


Nonstop to Nowhere

by tzigane, Zaganthi (Caffiends)



Series: Nowhere [1]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, First Time, M/M, hurt-comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-08-29
Updated: 2003-08-29
Packaged: 2017-11-01 11:21:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/356147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tzigane/pseuds/tzigane, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffiends/pseuds/Zaganthi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, Smallville was a quiet little hamlet. And then the Luthors arrived.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nonstop to Nowhere

He hated him with a violent passion, or maybe he didn't. There was no way to tell, no in between, no place in him where there was anything beyond a violent anguish and a feeling of empty indifference. There was only the knowledge that one was favored, and one was not. One was perfect, and one was not.

One was sent away, and one was not.

It had always been difficult not to hate him, as much because of his perfection as because of his _talents_ , the strange gifts the meteor shower had given him. They were nothing like Lex's own gifts, baldness and incredible powers of healing. No, they had to be over the top, just like everything else.

Just like Lionel would have wanted in a son of his own.

The little sick genius grew healthy and strong after the meteor shower, but the little lost orphan had grown strong and fast, inexplicably beautiful and as intelligent and manipulative as he looked innocent. Lian, for all that he was younger than Lex, had bested him in everything but grades. But that didn't matter because Lian was innately better at the Games.

Mind games, fencing matches, there was no way to outmaneuver the brilliant little bastard.

Lex let out a slow breath and returned his attention to the window and the garden beyond. There were well-tended flowers curling around ornate trellises, walls of hedges and terraced steps of 'wild' flowers, all of which were there to distract his eyes. He looked through them instead of at them.

He wasn't going to break a glass from his favorite set of crystal just because thinking of his absent brother was enough to stir him to sharp rage. He was free of his shadow for a few months, maybe years, and it wasn't as if Lian could _possibly_ ingratiate himself further into Lionel's favor.

After all, he already pretty much owned their father. It wasn't that hard, nor was it difficult to see. All of Metropolis knew which one curried the most favor, which one could gain them what they wanted. Lian was never afraid to ask for things for himself or someone else. He'd learned long ago that Lionel didn't expect anything from him in return, and that he could get whatever he wanted from the people who asked him for favors.

Lex had never asked Lian for a favor. He'd always thought people who did must be utterly mad.

People never asked him for a favor, because he apparently -- and he wondered at that every morning in the mirror -- looked evil. Lian, with that wide enticing smile, looked honest. People never knew they were making a deal with the devil, and one just as ruthless as Lionel Luthor. Lex just wanted people's money, while Lian wanted _them_ ; Lex wanted to make everything he touched bloom and blossom with wealth, lasting proof of what he could do. Lian sucked things dry.

And so much for escaping his brother and father -- what kind of escape was a shitty little town like Smallville? It was cold and heartless, not even the comfortable heartless of Metropolis. There were too many people in Smallville who hated him with a more _personal_ fervor. Lionel Luthor's son. It was even more of a stigma here in this tiny end-of-nowhere place than it was in Metropolis. He could see it in their eyes, the fervent dislike, the nearly accusatory glare. Took away what belonged to us, those looks declared. Brought with you meteors when you came. Should have died like so many of us did. Why won't you just die? Die like the Langs and like the Kents and like the O'Farrells, and never mind that the Langs had been in the middle of a messy divorce, that Laura Lang had been screwing the son of the founding family, that her husband had been sleeping with her sister. Never mind that the Kents had been paranoid survivalists, their storm cellar yielding years worth of canned goods and guns and gasmasks. Never mind that half the town had hated the O'Farrells, or that those boys had spent all of their time growing weed in the back forty mixed in amongst the cornstalks.

No. Lex Luthor was certainly a more worthy target of their dislike, enough so that the entire town could forget those things and focus on him instead. Who cared if he'd only been nine at the time?

And that he'd almost died. Lionel had told him that once, not long after his mother had perished; Lionel had been drunk and admitted -- on purpose, Lex didn't doubt -- that he'd almost let him die of shock because Lian had wandered up and...

An odd little boy Lionel hadn't even known at the time was obviously worth more than his own flesh and blood. Most of Smallville would have agreed. Most of Smallville probably would have loved dearly if he'd drowned when he crashed his car off that bridge, only he'd thwarted doom once again, somehow slipped loose from the seatbelt and cracked the window. Somehow. He had to have done it, crawled up onto the bank of the river, and lost consciousness. Because he'd somehow survived, and there was no way anyone would've helped him.

Even the paramedics had sneered about rich city boys and their fast and deadly toys. The sheriff had dared to lecture him despite the barbed wire that had been laying across the road, impossible to avoid.

The scotch was burning on the way down and that felt impossibly good, made Lex aware that he was alive in ways that felt altogether too right to him. If it took getting drunk to feel real, he'd do that. He'd do anything that it took to feel _alive_ , to feel like he was something worthwhile and human.

Not just the overseer of a shit factory. The much hated leader of the crap plant, referred to most unaffectionately as 'Daddy's little boy' and 'that freak' -- behind his back of course, and there was no point in telling people that he heard them whispering. It wasn't like it was something new, and it would probably amaze them all to know how wrong and how right they were about those gossipy accusations.

The daddy's little boy remark had come from the mouth of the plant's manager. He had wanted to choke the man with his crooked tie, only that would've been what they expected. And Luthors never did the expected.

Some days, even the best liquor didn't have that... zing. That quick slap of bliss that drugs had. He'd worked too hard to get off of them, though, stayed clean too long. No coke, no X, no K, not even pot to get him off track. These days, he relied solely on the power of liquor to numb him up a little, and since that wasn't doing him any good, maybe he should wander into that tiny hamlet and visit their fakery of a coffee shop. With any luck, he'd scare every teenager in town into running.

He drained the last of the scotch from his glass, and then meticulously tidied his office. Tidying was part straightening of things he used, part locking down of passwords on his laptop. It was mindless, but Lex stayed mindful of his reason for doing it. Even when alone in a house -- servants didn't count -- there was still the risk of theft. Still the risk of losing every shard of fetal plans that he'd laid the groundwork for so secretly and patiently.

Lex really hated losing _anything_ , but he'd especially hate to lose his bid for independence, no matter how short-lived it might be. If he was lucky, maybe Lionel would just let him go. He was no Lian, after all, and it would be easy enough to disown him and just let him go his own way. After all the only effort that Lionel put into his second best son was to constantly break him down, show him in ways subtle and blatant that if he had died in that crash, Lionel might just have shown up at the funeral for the publicity shots. If he was lucky.

It was too much to hope for. Lionel would never cut him loose. Because no matter how much Lionel doted on Lian, there was always the niggling feeling that he still wanted Lex as his heir. Or maybe that was just the last tiny peeps of his ego trying to reassure him that he was worth the space that he was taking up on the planet.

He certainly knew he wasn't worth the car that he was going to climb into once he got down to his garage. No time to have a servant bring it around to the front, he'd pick his own vehicle and roar into town. Lex liked it better when he had the control of choosing his own things, anyway, and the cars said a lot about him. Fast, sleek, expensive, and beautiful. Well, okay, maybe _he_ wasn't beautiful, but he was definitely all of those other things, and he could pretend that he was beautiful when he wasn't standing next to Lian.

Standing next to Lian was a death sentence for anybody's ego. Lionel insisted that Lian keep his hair long -- or maybe Lian had insisted on it, flaunting beautiful hair like the mane that Lionel had, and Lionel of course would have indulged that whim.

Just one more tiny thing to grind into Lex that he was a freak, and not the same desirable freak that Lian was.

It probably explained half of his self-destructive desire, if not the whole of it. It drove him absolutely crazy, knowing that he couldn't even begin to measure up to Lian. It didn't matter that he was older, it didn't matter that he was _smarter_ (even if it didn't seem that it was by much). Well, nothing really mattered, he thought, and that was enough reason to throw himself wildly through every curve in the flat Kansas countryside as he headed towards Smallville.

He was pretty sure that a big fiery car-wreck wouldn't kill him. He'd probably get another lecture by the sheriff. The car dealerships in Metropolis loved him, and there was no questioning why; his newest car was an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Volante, with every extra possible. Life felt sharper when he could blare his music and feel the wind over his scalp.

Life felt _good_ away from Lian and Lionel, even if it was here in Hicksville, USA.

The afternoon 'crowds' amounted to two old pickup trucks and a school bus, so it was easy enough to drive into town and find a parking spot right in front of the Beanery. The old-fashioned Mustang that took up his usual place didn't worry him very much. Admittedly there were more 65's than there were of the 64 1/2, but even the 64 1/2 was common enough that it really wasn't anything for him to fret over. Never mind that its cherry red exterior was so primary it hurt his eyes, never mind the fact that the entire thing had been so obviously retooled by someone with money and an eye for power and a bizarre accuracy, never mind the....

"Lex!"

Right. Never mind that Lian had a weakness for red American made muscle cars. The little bastard.

A thousand words crowded in his mouth, jumping to get free -- some snipe, some jibe, some angry snarl, only he didn't voice any of them. Standing before God and the glass windows that Beanery customers were looking through, he snarled, "Lian -- aren't you supposed to be in school?"

The brilliant beam that Lian gave was absolutely blinding even in the late afternoon fall sunlight. "I'm skipping," he declared happily enough. "No need to call Dad. I stopped by his office this morning before I left town. He thought visiting you might do some good. Perk you up a little, Lex. Word is you've been moping a lot. I heard about the Porsche."

Of course he had. Who hadn't heard about the Porsche if they lived within three hundred miles of Smallville and read either the Inquisitor or the Planet? And whatever the local paper for Smallville was. That shitty little rag that he had delivered to his front door for the purpose of seeing what the yokels were up to.

"Yeah, and thanks for not calling to see that I was okay. You can tell Dad I want to thank him for his heartening and endearing lack of concern, too." Fuck Lian, his beautiful, better brother, and fuck his obnoxiously Midwestern taste in cars. James Bond never had to put up with that shit. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to get a cup of coffee."

"Oh, hey, not a problem. I'll come get one with you. _And_ ," Lian added, "it's not like you'd have sent _me_ a note if I had wrecked one of my cars. Well. Maybe one that said, 'Lian -- thanks for destroying that monstrosity and getting it off of the roads I drive on. Your brother, Lex'."

"There's a difference between wrapping a car around a tree -- and how that beast passes an emissions test, I don't fucking know -- and crashing it off of a bridge." It was hard not to howl that, not to snarl his outrage at having it so lightly brushed off. It had happened two weeks ago, after all, and his bruises had healed; there was no logical reason for him to hold it against his brother still.

But he did. Rage and anger knew no logic, and there was no one like Lian for stirring the sheer intensity of those emotions in him with just a smile. Rage and anger also failed to understand that they shouldn't rear their heads when he was going to duck into a local spot for a cup of coffee.

Lex had the feeling that they were scaring the locals. It brought a momentary shark-like smile to his face, and the one Lian gave back to him was that open one that made people think he was the less dangerous of the two of them. More fool _them_ , because Lian was no stranger to having everything he wanted, and taking it if it wasn't given.

"Come on, Lex. It can't be _that_ bad. You didn't even call home, and Dad got all of the medical reports. You know he's got that habit with you." But never with Lian. No, not his precious youngest _son_.

Thinking about it, which Lex hated to do at any length but found himself doing to spite himself, his mother had probably liked Lian more than she'd liked him in that last handful of years. That was a bitter drop of acid to savor being added to his emotional wounds.

"It'll take more than that to get me crawling back to Metropolis," Lex smiled smoothly, and then he walked past Lian to pull open the door to the shop. If those people knew what was good for them, they'd bow down and worship the man who was going to try to breathe life into the failing little plant.

Sadly enough, none of them did. It made him that much more irritable as he stomped up to the Lang brat and snapped out an order for coffee. When had she started working there again? She didn't seem like she was any good at it, did she, fumbling that way?

"Hey, your friend looks like he's going to be sick," she said, pink little mouth pursing with concern, eyes wide and innocent and really _really_ annoyingly sweet.

Lian _did_ look ill when Lex turned around, and that was a huge shock on par with his father announcing he was giving away his fortune and becoming a monk. Lian had never so much as sneezed as far as Lex knew, and now he looked pale and sweaty, mouth trembling slightly as if he were in real pain.

"Lex?"

He looked scared.

Fleetingly, Lex wanted to bottle that look, or take a picture so he could lull himself to sleep with it. The mind's eye would have to satisfy his urge to crystallize that moment. And he didn't look long, rushing to his brother's side in a way that his father would have scolded him for.

"Easy, Lian -- here, sit down..."

"Don't feel so good..." Lian paled further as the girl neared him, leaning close for a moment.

"I'll go get him some water," she offered, pulling away for a moment. "Maybe a trash can too..."

"Yeah, he looks like he's gonna hurl," a guy a couple of tables over told her.

Lex helped Lian to slump down into one of the booth's seats, stooping down to look at him eye level. He kept one hand on Lian's shoulder -- to keep him steady, of course -- and checked at Lian's pulse. Something had to be seriously wrong for Lian to look so pale, almost green with nausea. "C'mon, what... is it your stomach? Does anything hurt?"

"Everything hurts," Lian whispered, shuddering as the girl moved away from them. His color seemed to improve and his breath eased slightly. "Um. I think. I..." The confusion in those green eyes seemed slightly accusatory, as if whatever it was might have been Lex's fault. "I feel better now." He looked better, too, color rushing back into his face as he sat up straight, mouth curling up in a little snarl. "What the hell..."

"Fuck." Lex exhaled a slow breath, lifting the hand from Lian's pulse -- which he swore he'd felt waver -- to run it through Lian's beautiful dark hair. "You scared me, you bastard. Are you sure you're all right? Dad'll have me killed if something happens to you."

"I'm okay. It must have been... something in the air," Lian excused, scowling at Lex as the boys in the booth near them snickered. "I'm not twelve, you know. And I'm not the one who's always been in and out of hospitals and being..."

"Here's some water. You look like you're feeling a little better..." That girl again, and maybe Lian wasn't looking so good, after all.

He'd turned pale once more, and Lex let out a frustrated breath as he pulled back a little. He'd wanted to scare the natives and get a cup of coffee, not give them a laugh at the Luthor Family Follies.

"Miss Lang, grab me a couple of sugar packets." Maybe Lian's miraculously hyperactive metabolism was acting up on him. It hadn't happened before, but there was a first for everything. The pale and green look was certainly a first.

"Sure, they're just on the table..." She leaned between Lex and Lian, and his brother gave a faint moan of agony as she brushed against him, seemingly incapable of speech. "Gee, maybe you should just take him to the hospital, Mister Luthor?"

Lian was never incapable of speaking. His brother was a fountain of words at all hours, brilliant smiling ones...

No hospitals, but he wasn't going to waste breath telling the dumb girl that. Lex just snatched the sugar packets from her hand, ripped them open, and dumped it into the water. "Drink this, and we're going back to the Manor. I'll have one of the staff get that thing you drove here." And he shifted back a little more, wanting to escape the crowded in feeling that the Lang girl was inflicting on him as he passed his brother the glass.

The shaking hand that took the glass seemed to be lined with veins, and even they seemed green-tinged beneath the pallor of his skin.

"Man, he's gonna puke if you make him drink that," the guy at the booth said seriously. "Lana, stand back, he probably needs some air."

"Whitney..."

"Look, kid, if you think I don't know how to treat my own brother..." Lex kept fingers on the opposite side of that glass, in case Lian dropped it, but managed to twist to glare up at the... Oh, jock material without question. He didn't even need to be wearing his obnoxiously primary colored letter jacket.

The sound of Lian choking interrupted him, and God, that was really, REALLY disgusting.

"Told you he was gonna hurl," the football player sighed. "Hey, look, guy, you need some help getting him outside?"

Guy.

Well, it was a good sight better than 'Satan', 'freak' or even 'Mister Luthor'. Lex nodded silently, wiping fingers absently on a napkin before he moved to slide an arm under Lian's shoulders. "Christ, Lian..."

"Sorry." It _sounded_ like sorry, anyway, some mumbled half-sentence, and Dad was going to kill him _dead_ if Lian was really, truly sick. It wasn't like he could do anything about it, but that wouldn't make any difference to Lionel, now would it? Definitely not. "'s... air's so..."

"Yeah, back up a little more, Lana. He needs air." Bossy damned jock.

Lex's eyes dropped a little, and inadvertently strayed to the man's groin. Looked like he had something to back up his bossiness. Maybe he could add 'sleeping with all the pretty ones' to his list of ways to horrify the sleepy suburb.

He stopped that thought short to haul Lian to his feet, and hoped the walking meat stick would do more than stand there and yap. His brother was wonderful, perfect, and fucking heavy when he was limp-limbed like that. "C'mon, Lian. Can you walk?"

Lian mumbled something at him and _tried_ to stand, but his knees nearly buckled under him, and the jock had to catch him. "Maybe if we both grab an arm..." And damned if the waitress wasn't back _again_ , hovering. Obviously coming into Hicktown today had been a very bad fucking idea.

Then again, his brother would have been ill without him there. Might've ended up in a hospital. And then Lionel would've really had his head on a fucking platter and delivered it to Lian at his convenience. "Shit -- always have to do things to extremes, don't you, Lian? You're _never_ sick... Miss Lang, get the door."

She pulled open the glass door ahead of them, and Lian threw up clear water again as they passed by her, destroying Lex's new shoes and spattering the football player's jeans. It was _so_ not Lex's day.

Rage and disgust were having a petty spat in the back of his mind, but concern was winning as he guided Lian and the jock towards... He hesitated a moment, then reached his free hand into Lian's pockets to search for his keys. "We'll take yours." Vomit and bile on Lian, and on his shoes -- there was no way, no matter how worried he was, that he was going to take it out on his new beauty.

Lian looked a little better outside of the coffee shop, but he still didn't seem as if he was going to get better anytime soon. Lex had a bizarre urge to smack the Lang girl just to get her out of the _way_. "Keys," Lian slurred. "Pocket."

Right pocket, which meant they'd be easy for Lex to get since he was on that side and he was left handed.

It must've looked obscene, and under less strained circumstances, Lex would've taken a moment to appreciate the depravity of it that wasn't. But he pulled the keys free, then gestured towards the Mustang. "That one. Help me get him into the passenger side." Parked right beside his own car, and between the two vehicles there was more money sitting on wheels than the coffee shop itself was worth.

"Wow. A sixty-four..." The jock honestly looked stunned and almost stumbled in awe. And to think, those boys never really looked at _his_ cars like that. Damn the lot of them. No taste. "Hey, I can get the door. Lana, go get a towel, it'd be a shame to ruin this thing..."

"Sixty four and a half," Lex corrected as he wrapped his left hand around Lian's waist to steady him while the jock pulled open the door. The jock had a name, didn't he? Lana -- the cutesy Lang girl -- had called him Whitney. It was always good to recall names. "I'm sure he'd be more than willing to discuss American muscle cars if he wasn't throwing up."

"Yeah," Lian agreed a little weakly. "Talk about it sometime." Sometime when he didn't feel like shit, although he was starting to feel one hell of a lot better again. "'S it s'posed t'be like 'is, Lex?" Sick, and then feel better, and then sick again?

"I don't know," Lex said shakily, still holding his brother upright. His muscles were going to be giving him fits in the morning for that. "Like I know? You must've caught some bug somewhere."

"Eurgh," Lian agreed as Lana came back with a towel.

"Here, I'll put it in the seat," she said worriedly, shifting closer to Lian. He turned even more pale at her motions.

"Maybe it's something he's allergic to. Perfume or something, maybe?" the blond suggested, looking up at Lex with eyebrows raised.

There was no question that Lana was wearing a lot of it -- she smelled pink, if pink could have a smell. He waited for her to set down the towel on the seat so he could slide his heavy brother into the passenger side, then said, "Lana, could you... go back into coffee shop?"

"Sure..." And never mind that hurt little moue, that sweet purse of lips, because Lian was turning green again. If he puked in the car, then Lian would probably yell at _Lex_ for it later. Never mind that he'd have done it himself.

"'M okay," Lian denied even as they settled him into the car. "Feelin' better a'ready."

"Sure you are." Lex pushed him gently to sit back, then buckled him into the seat. It was habit that drove the action more than reason. If they crashed, Lian would theoretically be perfectly fine; then again, theoretically, Lian was never sick. "Whitney, thanks for you help."

"You're really welcome, Mr. Luthor." Back to that again, but at least Lian didn't look like he was going to start heaving up his guts. That'd be disturbing. "If you need any help..."

"Lex," he corrected easily, almost softly as he slid a hand into his brother's hair again, tilting his head to check his eyes for dilation. Maybe he'd stopped in some greasy spoon on the way to Smallville, and had been poisoned? "Actually, can you drive stick? I'm reluctant to leave my car here."

"Really do feel better," Lian objected sullenly, allowing Lex to push him around a bit. It would probably gain him a concession from Lex at a later date if he went along with it. "I could try driving home."

"And wreck a sixty-four and a HALF!?" Whitney's squeak was nigh on horrified. "I can drive a stick, Lex."

Lex pulled back, pulling his hand away from Lian's face. "Good. Here -- can you follow me up to the castle?" He slipped his hand into his pockets, straightening up to look Whitney in the eye when he offered his car keys. It wasn't often that he let someone who wasn't on his payroll drive his car.

"Sure," Whitney agreed, though his hand was shaking a little when he took the keys from Lex's fingers beneath Lian's watchful eyes.

"Help me strip off these jeans, Lex," Lian demanded, mouth pouting prettily. "They're nasty. I don't want them in my car." If he was up to making demands, Lian was obviously feeling better.

"They're already in your car, Lian. You can wait until we get to the manor." And he closed the passenger door firmly, walking around the front of Lian's primary colored beast and past Whitney. "I'll drive the speed limit so you can follow."

"Okay. Good." After all, the whole county knew that Lex was prone to wrecking things, and even if Lex didn't know it, Whitney wasn't exactly much better. "I'll be careful with it, Lex." A happy shy smile crossed the blond's face. Maybe Smallville wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Thanks."

It promised to be better than bearable if he could cut a wide swath of debauchery through the jocks of the town. Straight? Maybe the guy was. And maybe that could be twisted with enough exposure to fast cars. It had been a year or so since Lex had last really challenged his ability to seduce someone he wanted.

All of those thoughts passed through Lex's mind as he slid into the driver's seat of the Mustang and wasted a moment orienting himself to the layout of the car. It was at least a well-tended American made piece of shit. He slipped the key into the ignition, and felt a faint shiver of pleasure when the engine purred to life. Not that he'd ever admit that to Lian.

"Don't look at my car like that. It loves me," Lian told him a little sullenly. "Which is more than I can say for _you_ , Lex. How did you manage it? Was it something in the air, or in your hand? Revenge because I didn't call and see how your bruises felt?"

"You think I had something to do with it?" Lex hissed tightly as he half-watched Whitney ogle the interior of his car. He started to back Lian's beast out of the parking space. "Fuck you, Lian -- you scared me witless back there. I've never seen you look ill before."

"I've never _felt_ ill before," Lian admitted, squirming uncomfortably in his damp clothing. "But I know you don't like me. Who else would have any reason to try hurting me?" It was logical enough, Lex supposed. "I mean, it's not like I stopped anywhere between Metropolis and here. I've been waiting for you outside that damned pretense of a coffee shop since I called the house and was told you'd left it."

"Glad to know I'm still predictable enough that you can hunt me down even in a backwater hell like Smallville." He toyed with the stickshift for a moment, before pulling into traffic. People, even his own brother, assumed the worst of him. It felt like high time that he gave them reason to assume the worst if they were going to do that anyway. "I'd never hurt you, Lian. You're my brother."

Adopted, albeit, and more loved than he was.

"I'm your brother, but you don't _like_ me," Lian murmured, sullen as he closed his eyes. "I feel a lot better. Is being sick supposed to feel like that? Worse and then better and then worse again? I don't think I want to do any of it anymore if that's the case."

"Actually, no. When normal people are sick, it's just... worse and worse and worse. Actually, the worse it feels, the closer you could be to recovery. Or dying." He glanced over to Lian, and added as a poor attempt to comfort him, "Not that I've been sick for a few years myself."

"Then I think I'm glad I feel better. I wouldn't want to die on you, after all. Dad'd be pissed. He'd come down and stomp and yell and throw glasses at you." Lian sounded terribly smug at that thought.

"I'd wager that whatever that was wouldn't have happened if you were in school today," Lex groused at him. School in general irked Lex; Lian had gone to a fancy private school in Metropolis, and Lex had been sent out of the country. Just one more thing on the list of reasons that proved Lian was better loved than he was. "It could've been that Lang girl's perfume. She smelled pink."

"She'd be kind of pretty if she'd avoid that," Lian sighed, and that was probably the closest that Lex would get to an agreement from him. "God, I feel so much better." 'Better' apparently meant that Lian was ready to be out of vomit-damp jeans, and he began stripping there in the passenger seat.

"I'm trying to drive -- can you not do that?" Lex snapped, pressing down on the gas just a fraction more. As if that would deter Lian from doing anything that he wanted to do.

"It's not like it's anything you haven't seen before," Lian said, getting them off of his long legs. He made a face and rolled down the window, poised as if to throw them out on the roadside.

"If you do that, Lian, and they hit _my_ car, I'll find out whatever it was that made you sick and fill the manor with it. Don't throw them out the window." Someone had to occasionally tell Lian 'no', even if Lionel wasn't ever going to do it.

The pout on Lian's face was really disgustingly adorable. It was no wonder half of Metropolis laid down when he wanted to walk over them. "Lex. They _stink_. My car won't survive!"

"You're being melodramatic. You've had sex in this car, and sex stains are harder to get out of a car than vomit. Stop acting like a child." Like the fifteen year old that they assumed he was. Lex thought that was some underestimation. Lian was _huge_ , after all, broad hands and shoulders, and he'd hit puberty at least three years earlier than Lex had. He'd bet anything Lian was closer to eighteen than fifteen. His tutors had certainly agreed, and he'd skipped his way merrily from grade to grade halfway through each year. Lex supposed he could afford to skip a few days during senior year.

"Yeah, well. It's one thing to stain it with sex and something else to stain it with _this_ ," Lian muttered, nose wrinkling.

"I have no pity -- you threw up on me, too. And no, I'm not going to try to strip off while driving so you can feel that your car is safe. I'll have one of the staff detail it for you before you go home." Lex glanced in the rear view mirror, and made sure that the jock was still following them in his car.

"Just for that, I ought _not_ to go home. I should make Dad send my tutor so that I can annoy you for a while longer." Lian was definitely going into a full-fledged sulk. There was nothing else to call it.

"Wouldn't you rather be associating with your classmates in Metropolis? I won't be able to entertain you. I'm here to run a business." It was easy to keep his eyes on the road after that, the road and the rear view mirror. Looking at Lian was too damn distracting. Wasn't it enough that he was Lionel's favorite? Did he really _have_ to take all of Lex's attention, too?

"So? You have to come home sometime. It might be fun to annoy all of the locals. Plus, I think I want to look into that Lana person. Maybe if you wash the pink off of her, she might not make me puke." In other words, Lian wanted to know what had made him ill, and why.

It made sense, rational sense. Lian had every right to try to learn why his perfect, spectacular health had been affected. But exile to Smallville was a waste for Lex if he didn't have a chance to escape his father _and_ Lian. Because where Lian was, well, Lionel was likely to visit.

That made Smallville a hell like Metropolis was, only without the comforts of home. "If you insist, Lian."

The obvious pleasure in Lian's smirk was undeniable. "Good. I think I will insist, Lex. I've missed you, you know. Life at home isn't half as much fun without you in it."

"Run out of people to torment already?" Lex muttered halfway under his breath. "You've been sent here to check up on me, haven't you? This is all some grand scheme that you and Dad have concocted..."

"I've always wondered where that paranoia of yours came from. What is it that always makes you think that I'm conspiring against you with Dad, anyway?" Lian asked with a laugh. "I feel so much better. I don't think I'm going to try feeling bad again."

He hated the way Lian laughed like that, so easy and carefree, and hated the way that Lian liked to pretend that his cute innocence would work on Lex. It never did, no, the only thing it ever did was grate at his nerves. "Maybe you've finally come down with something that's strong enough to make you ill?"

That sobered his baby brother somewhat. "I don't know. It felt like all of my blood was trying to bubble up out of my veins and pop through my skin. Just these waves of... of sick." Uncertainty wasn't a look that suited Lian, Lex decided. Especially not since it made him even fucking _cuter_. "Please, Lex. If you did it, just say so, and I won't be mad." Trying to manipulate him.

Which wouldn't have bothered him if he hadn't been a hundred percent innocent. "Your faith in me is overwhelming," Lex muttered bitterly. "I had nothing to do with it, but if you keep accusing me..."

"You might admit that you did?" Lian asked him, brows rising. He shifted so that his long legs stretched out farther in the floor boards, silk boxers bunching along his legs. Why the hell did Julian have to be so fucking gorgeous? "I won't be mad, Lex. Just..."

"I _wish_ I'd done it just so I could say 'yes' and get you to stop talking." Sex on legs. There was no subtle grace to him that stood out, nothing more complicated than the feeling that if you sat beside him for very long, you'd come. Lex had survived puberty with that, and his wild teenage years. He could handle it now without getting hard.

If only his body was up to listening to him.

That seemed to quiet Lian a little. Maybe it was acceptance, or maybe it was a decision to sneak around and research whatever it was that Lex might have done. Either way, it'd keep him busy, and maybe it would keep him out of Lex's hair until his tutor arrived.

Knowing Lian, he'd declare that they needed a good two weeks' vacation before going back to studying.

Lex gave the vehicle a little workout, mentally tossing together power and trajectory diagrams in his head as he forced it to hug the curves as tightly as it could. His engine was better, reacted better to the way he drove, he assured himself almost smugly as he slowed and signaled to turn into the drive that took him up to the gated security fence.

"You're thinking mean thoughts about Heidi and she knows it," Lian told him, lower lip poked out in a pout that made him _look_ fifteen. "She doesn't like it when you think mean thoughts about her. You'll wake up in the middle of the night and find her breathing down your neck, Lex."

"Heidi?" Lex choked on a laugh as the man at the gate opened it for him, and he eased up the drive, making sure that -- ah, yes, the walking crotch was still behind him. Good.

"Heidi," Lian assured him. "Are you telling me your cars don't have personalities? _Names_?"

Why did he have to phrase it that way when he damn well knew the answer? Lian had ridden in Lex's first car with him, one of his first times turning it around the streets of Metropolis. It had been just Lex and his little brother zooming around Metropolis in a low slung Jaguar that Lex had dubbed Excalibur.

"But 'Heidi', Lian -- it's very European."

His brother just grinned, though. "Well, you know. I thought about naming her Cecilia, but I really didn't think it was much of a fit. She preferred Heidi. Nothing I could do about it, really."

"Maybe you shouldn't let your Mustangs back talk to you." Lex braked in front of the house, waiting with a tinge of anxiousness for his steel blue DB7 to roll to a stop.

"They're good girls," Lian told him, shaking his head so that dark curls tumbled down into his face. They weren't quite as fat as Lex's had been as a child, but neither were they the tightly screwed waves Lionel had. "They do wonderful things for me. I'm going to have one in every color of the rainbow."

"That's too many cars that have no physical differences other than paint jobs. And there's no green in rainbows." He turned the beast off -- it was no 'Heidi', Lex was sure -- and tossed the keys to his brother. "You can put them... wherever you like."

"Gee, _thanks_ , Lex. Going to get busy trying to seduce the pretty little football player, now? That _is_ why you let him drive your car, isn't it?" Lian raised one dark brow, sulking again. What was it about teenagers that made them so sullen? "You wouldn't let _me_ drive it."

"You're just going to whine non-stop at me, aren't you? I haven't seen you since I bought that car." Lex opened the door, and got out of the driver's seat, then leaned back in again. "Do you think you can walk? I'll help you up to a guest room."

"I can walk," Lian replied. "I feel lots better." Lots better, and when _he_ opened the door and slid out, it was as much pure sex as Lex's own motions, easy, confident, and he was already half-naked. It'd be a miracle if the jock didn't come in his shorts at the sight. God knows Lex would be tempted if it wasn't his bratty hated (or maybe not) baby brother.

"Then go ahead and I'll join you in a moment, Lian." Lex closed the door the rest of the way and straightened up, letting his eyes linger lazily on his brother before he turned around to find Whitney. He still wanted a cup of coffee badly; it was a pity that no one had yet invented a way to combine coffee and sex.

He'd mainline the stuff if they had.

"Um, here are your car keys." Whitney was flustered, flushed, and Lian was still leaning against the red Mustang, green eyes lingering on him. "It's... Wow. Wow. That was quite a drive."

"All quiet, subtle sexuality with Lex," Lian agreed, mouth curving upwards in a smirk as he snagged a small bag from the back seat. "I'll go in now," he declared. It was probably the realization that Lex might kill him if he didn't.

Never mind that it was too late and Lian had played a hand that Lex hadn't been ready to. He played it off, though, and didn't react to his brother's words. "Tell Elizabeth to run you a bath, and Joseph will take care of this mess." Then he turned back to Whitney, smoothly reaching for his keys as he approached him. "I can't thank you enough for this favor."

Which, quite unplanned, left Whitney rather stranded there. Someone would have to give him a ride back to that coffee hole.

"Um, it's okay. Could I, maybe, use the phone? Call my girlfriend for a ride back?" Whitney asked him a little hesitantly. There were sharp spots of color high on his cheekbones, and he was studiously trying to avoid looking at Lian sashaying away from them both and up the front steps.

It would be on the same day that Lex decided to conquer Smallville that Lian would arrive and steal his thunder. His little brother, after all, had beautiful long hair, a charmingly cute smile, and... didn't look like the freak he was.

Lex had to put in a lot of effort to not let it get to him. "Sure thing, Whitney. Follow me."

"Your, um, brother, he's sort of. Forthright. Isn't he?" Whitney asked, and it seemed for a moment that maybe, just maybe, he'd seen through Lian. Not many people did, though, so it wouldn't surprise Lex if Whitney decided Lian was nice, after all. "It's sort of scary, considering he was puking up his guts fifteen, twenty minutes ago."

"He's mercurial," Lex excused, shooting Lian's backside a little glare. "I have no idea what happened, but it was probably something to do with his metabolism. And yes, he's always so forthright. There isn't a tactful bone in his body."

"I could tell," Whitney said with a little laugh, shoulders bunching in his letterman's jacket. "Look, if it's all the same, I can wait outside for my ride. The, um, the place is really nice, but I think I'd probably be afraid I'd break something if I touched it just right, and it'd probably be as much as my life's worth to do that."

"You won't break anything," Lex purred smoothly. With Lian not looking at him, it was easier to hit his stride, pulling open the front door and gesturing Whitney inside. "Most of it's still being renovated. If the ballroom can withstand my fencing practices, the rest of the house can withstand you just being in it."

"Well, so long as you don't think anything's breakable..." Whitney laughed. "I guess I'll come in for a while."

Mmm, yes, and if he came in, Lex would have a better chance of having his way with him on the couch, if not today, then at a later date. "You can call her from my office," Lex offered off-handedly. He led the way down the front hallway, to the back arched hallway and then turned to head for his office. "You're a senior at the high school, right?"

The blond gave a little smile. "Yeah. Senior, quarterback, all of the good stuff," he nodded. "It's great. Nothing too serious senior year except for English. The rest is all downhill. Home ec, shop, that kind of thing."

"Giving yourself a little break before college? I bet you'll have a few offers before the season ends." Because every high school quarterback expected an offer, even if their team was no good. Whitney would be no exception to that rule, Lex could feel it.

"Maybe." Whitney seemed a little shy about it, but he smiled all the same. "We've been to the state championships every year for the past twenty, so the scouts tend to spend a lot of time around here."

"Hey, Lex..." Lian was coming down the hall, God only knew from where. He looked as if he'd cleaned up, though, dark hair pulled back, cocksucker's mouth parted sweetly, and _Christ_ , he hadn't just thought that about his brother. "I'm going to claim the bedroom next to yours, okay?" Never mind that it had a connecting door. Never mind that it was meant for the lady of the castle, and so definitely _not_ Lian.

Never mind that there were close to a hundred other rooms. Lian had to assure that Lex never got laid, just out of bitterness towards Lex, Lex was too sure. All little brothers had to thwart their siblings' happiness. It was probably a rule in a special book that younger brothers received at birth. "Fine. Did you happen to bring clothes with you from Metropolis, or...?"

"No," Lian said happily enough, moving until he was beside Whitney. "I guess I'll just have to make do until I call Dad and get the clothes and tutor transferred."

"Tutor?" Whitney asked, looking confused.

"It's like being home schooled, only more expensive," Lex supplied as he moved ahead of them and pushed open his office doors. It was the only room in the castle on that floor that was entirely settled and finished to his satisfaction. And it was impressive, with the books lining the walls, the historical artifacts, the leather chairs and his computer desk as a central, glass-topped fixture. "So, Whitney -- what does your girlfriend do?"

"Oh, Lana. She's having her first day serving at the Beanery. Looks like it's turning out to be quite a day, too," Whitney replied, nodding to Lex.

"Well, it's not every day somebody comes in and gets sick without ever having anything, I'd bet," Lian agreed as he followed his brother and the football player into the study. "Wow, Lex. Looks like you've been hard at work."

"Part of Father's request was that I make this place livable," Lex smirked a little as he paced towards his phone. "I'd call this livable." He perched against the edge of the desk, picking up the phone and turning it around to offer to Whitney. It was frustrating that anything he did would probably be overshadowed by Lian's mere presence. "Here -- hit nine and then you'll be able to dial out."

The sheepish smile on Whitney's face was matched by Lian's brightness. "Kind of overwhelming, isn't it? Sometimes, I think everything we do is a little over the top, but then. I'm accustomed to it, so I wouldn't really know. Maybe you could tell me?" There was that _look_ again, pure sex from underneath black lashes. Lex couldn't determine if he wanted to slap Lian for looking at Whitney that way when Lex had decided that _he_ wanted him, or if he just wanted to slap Lian period.

It wasn't as if the urge to slap Lian ever lessened.

Lex just forced himself to smile good-naturedly, still idly holding the phone towards Whitney. "Or maybe you could tell both of us." And maybe there was a drip too much suggestion to his voice, because that accidentally implied something Lex himself wasn't sure he'd be all right with.

"Um..." The precise discomfort that lingered on Whitney's face said a lot about how much he'd caught onto them. "Ah, maybe I should, you know. Wait for Lana outside..."

"You don't want to see the house?" Lian asked, mouth curving upwards into a smirk. Why was it that look seemed _vicious_ on Lex, but only looked mischievously sexy on Lian? Dammit.

So Lex backed off a fraction, still holding out the phone. "You ought to actually try calling Lana before you go stand outside," he chuckled softly.

"Oh!" It was charming to see the little football player blush like something out of a romance novel, his eyes turning demurely downward as he took the phone. "Um. Yeah, or maybe my dad could take a break and come get me..."

"What does your dad do?" Of course, they could have offered one of the servants to drive Whitney back, but that would've been awkward for the very Smallvillian young man. Lex let the phone be taken from him, still leaning against the edge of his desk as he watched Whitney.

"We, um, own Fordman's. Downtown, it's pretty much the biggest retail store in town. No Wal*Mart," Whitney said a little sheepishly. "You've got to drive to the next county for that."

"Oh, hey, cool!" Lian was mocking Whitney, and Lex knew it even if the quarterback didn't. "I've never been to Wal*Mart or anything like that. Maybe you could tell me how to get there? Or you could go with me, maybe. Give me directions..."

"Um. I think I should..." Whitney turned the phone on with the push of a button and began to dial.

Lex pushed away from his desk, walking towards his brother with a determined glare settling in his eyes the moment he turned his back to Whitney. "Lian, you have too been in stores like that."

"I have _not_ , Lex!" Lian pouted, mouth turning sulky, _sexy_. "You snuck me into the international farmers' market when I was six, and Dad caught us, and you _know_ he hasn't let you take me anywhere since then. And you know how Dad is about _clothes_." Even the jeans Lian wore had been tailor made.

Not Armani like Lex preferred, but personally designed Calvin Klein satisfied Lian's tastes well enough. And leather. And T-shirts that were all made the same way as his jeans, and... Lex was still smiling a sharp small smile as he looked at his brother, mentally denying that he'd been admiring Lian's clothes. Or him. It was easy to deny and excuse.

Lian was fucking gorgeous, and Lex had been staring at him for at least the past three years. It wasn't fair.

"Hmn, you pretend you're so sheltered, Lian. Now, do you really feel better?"

"Yes," Lian decided, chin notching upward. "After all, if Whitney here lets me take him to this Wal*Mart thing, Dad will never believe I went on my own. He'll think you _let_ me go."

"Hey," Whitney interrupted sharply, done with his phone call. "I'm so not playing this kind of game."

Lex turned smoothly, easy smile as firmly in place as possible. Fuck. Fuck Lian, fuck Smallville, fuck them all. "Pardon me?"

"Whatever this game is you two have going on. I mean, I'm an only child, sure, but I've seen this before. Daddy's got to have a favorite, right? And you both want to be sure it's you." Whitney scowled. "I'm not going to be some kind of merry-go-round ring for either one of you to pluck and show off to your _daddy_."

"Fuck you, quarterback. You're not my style, and God knows you're not Lex's," Lian snorted, green eyes narrowing, turning a darker almost threatening shade. "You think pretty highly of yourself if you think Luthors are likely to go for your kind of ring."

Lex liked to think he stayed to the higher ground by not reacting. Ice to Lian's fire, and he could rise above Lian only when his brother was angry like that. "I'm saddened to see that you'd leap to that... strange conclusion, Whitney."

"If the sexual tension in this room gets any thicker, you'd be able to _walk_ on it, and I'm not the prom queen," the football player told them both firmly, turning to head towards the door.

"No," Lian agreed. "Because if you were, I'd have my hand down your panties and Lex would have already done away with your dress."

A quiet laugh left Lex, and he followed idly after Whitney -- not pursuing, just trailing. "I think my brother worded it quite well. Look, you did me a favor, and I'm sorry if my brother's rudeness has bothered you."

"No, it's okay. He's just kind of... pushy," Whitney declared, glancing back at the room where Lian remained. "I don't like that. I'd feel sympathy for him for being sick if he wasn't such an asshole."

"Try living with him," Lex grinned ruefully. He mindfully kept a space between himself and Whitney, trying to smooth over the rough spots Lian had jackhammered into the psychological road between them. "Thankfully he's not sick very often. I think it might've been Lana's perfume."

"It's just Sunflowers..." Whitney said as they made their way towards the front door, expression a bit sheepish. "I, um, got it for her birthday, so. It's not the kind of thing that'd usually trigger any allergic reaction like _that_..."

"Interesting. I might pick up some Sunflowers somewhere and spray the little bastard's room with it to test that." His smile turned to a brief grin, and he opened the front door for Whitney. "But you're right -- it doesn't make any sense." Which left his own mind scrambling to piece together what it could be. He'd have to go back to the Beanery and take a better look around without Lian.

"Yeah." The blond looked a little uncomfortable at that thought as he strode out onto the front steps. "You know, um. You're brothers, right? Maybe you guys ought to try to at least _pretend_ you like each other? Those were some seriously weird vibes, there."

"Lian is actually my adopted brother. He was orphaned in the meteor crash -- could even be a relative of yours, Whitney, for all that I know." He moved to survey the grounds, slowing his pace. It wasn't as if Lana would be there within seconds. "What sorts of vibes?"

"Um. You know. Kind of like..." Wow. Country boys really _could_ blush. It started in Whitney's ears and chased across his face and down his throat until anything more was hidden by the t-shirt beneath his letter jacket. "Well, look. Let's put it this way. The prom queen? She'd just be a distraction. You know what I'm saying?"

"I understand what you're suggesting," Lex drawled easily, unflinchingly. He peered a little at the blush, letting his eyes follow it. Blonds blushed with exceeding grace and it worked well on him. "However... I don't really think that's possible."

The rise of an eyebrow was a little more skeptical than Lex had thought Whitney could manage. "If you say so, Lex. I'm still not going to be some imaginary ring, _or_ prom queen. I mean, this _is_ Smallville, but we're not stupid. And I'm telling you, it's really obvious."

"Really? I've never noticed it or even thought of it until you just mentioned it," Lex said mildly. It was obvious? Fuck, if it was obvious to a shit like Whitney, then Lionel had to know. Hell, Metropolis had to know that he wanted to bend his little brother -- his obnoxious, annoying little brother -- in half over his new desk and fuck him senseless.

It wasn't fair that Lian ruined everything.

"Don't worry, I don't like to play games with people. I've come to Smallville to turn the plant around and cut myself off from my father."

"And your brother, I'd guess. Um. Look. It's probably not my place to offer anything, but..." Whitney paused, the receding blush brightening again. "If you need anything. Well. You know. I'm just saying."

"Thanks," Lex told him with a genuine spike of appreciation in his voice. Whitney probably didn't mean it, but it was a tiny little offer that he was going to clutch in his mind and likely never call up on. "If there's anything I can ever do for you..."

"Um. Yeah. I, uh, think I'll walk on out to the gate. Lana will be here soon, so. Thanks for letting me drive the car." And then Whitney was gone, hurrying away down the drive.

It would take desperation for either of them to take the other up on the offer, but it laid there just in case. Lex stood on the stone steps, watching Whitney hurry away, and tried to rationalize through to his next move.

Settling Lian into the house and then getting him the hell out of his hair seemed the best bet. He knew the likelihood of _actually_ getting Lian back to Metropolis within the next couple of weeks would be slim and none. He also knew that Lian would find a way to make at least half of Smallville love him deeply and personally, and the rest of them to hate Lex just as genuinely and particularly. That was the nature of Lian, after all, though it hadn't worked with Whitney, had it? No, it hadn't.

"I see your boyfriend's gone. Wonder what Dad would think of him?" Green eyes lingered on Lex. "Of course, Dad prefers redheads."

"Pull your head out of your ass, Lian," Lex sighed flatly, turning around to look at his brother and the of course smug expression that he was expecting and that was on Lian's face. "Life isn't always some grand game."

"That's not what you told me when I was learning to speak English, Lex. You said everything was a game. And really, I just learned from the best, when you get right down to it." Lian's self-satisfied expression didn't change. "I mean, you taught me that there's always a favored son, and usually a dead one beneath his foot. I really don't want to be the dead one."

"You did learn your lessons well." Lex nodded, then turned sharply away from his brother. Outfoxed with strength and favoritism, it was easy to tell through Lian's smug smile who the dead one was going to be. "You could do it now, Lian."

"I'd just as soon not, Lex. There are better things out there for you than death, after all." Better things. Such as... what? What was the implication of that, exactly? Lian was looking at him _that_ way again, entirely too pleased with himself. "Besides. The king has not yet fallen." Those words inferred that it would only be a matter of time until Lionel did.

And Lex had his plans. Plans that were already slowly in motion. But how could he know if Lian didn't have plans of his own in motion? It was likely, possible...

He was the perfect son. It only made sense that his perfection would carry him through life on a golden cloud. "Not yet."

"No," Lian agreed. "Not yet." The look in his eyes was disgustingly serene, but there was something else hiding beneath the depths there, _lurking_. Alien, it said. Different, it said. Mutant. Wrong. Dangerous.

The same things it had been saying to Lex for the last twelve years, the same things it had been _screaming_ at him since Lian hit puberty at the grand old age of ten.

Lionel should have known that doctor had miscalculated Lian's age then.

Of course, Lionel probably knew. It was just one more little factor that he could use to play against Lex's insecurities. His brother was _so_ much younger than him, so much more perfect...

Lex broke all eye contact with Lian, and started back into the house. "Call Father and have him send your tutor, Lian."

"Tomorrow," Lian promised. "Maybe Mr. Kensington would like a vacation. Maybe a week. Somewhere hot and wet with lots of exotic dark-skinned boys." His footsteps sounded behind Lex. "Besides. I haven't figured out what it was that made me ill just yet."

"I'd offer to help, but I have a plant to kickstart back into action." Lex didn't head back towards his office; he started to mount the stairs, a hand on the banister. For a moment he contemplated mentioning Whitney's remark about sexual tension, but swallowed it down. Later. The time wasn't right yet.

"You're not hoping it will happen again? I seem to have heard something about 'picking up' some of that perfume somewhere and 'spraying the little bastard's room with it'," Lian mocked. "Sunflowers, didn't he say it was?"

"Yes. Think you're allergic to it, Lian? You never managed to learn when to _stop_ pushing at something." The mockery was easy to brush off, and Lex didn't slow his easy ascent.

"What can I say? I like pushing at you." It was true, and Lian was laughing at him. Dammit. "It's not the perfume, Lex. It's something to do with that girl, though. Still think it's all of the overwhelming pink."

"It could be," Lex half-agreed. "It could be _her_. People can be allergic to other people, and we Luthors have a way of doing things over the top."

"Even if I'm not a blood Luthor," Lian agreed with a slow smile. "I'm sorry if I ran off your boyfriend. Well," he considered, "not really. But I thought I should say so."

"You're a shitty liar. You should at least wait until you've been called on a lie before admitting it. Was that just for kicks, Lian? Are you going to pull this shit on me the entire time you're here?" Lex could feel anger simmering again, light and just below the surface, as he turned down the hallway towards his room.

"I suppose all of that really depends on you," Lian answered idly, following behind him. "I didn't like the looks of that one. Not good enough for you, Lex." The shallow misbegotten brat was mocking him again.

And of course Lian was following behind him. Lian had settled himself into the adjoining bedroom, out of spite Lex was sure. Out of spite, or out of that sexual tension Whitney had mentioned. Lian must have finally noticed Lex watching him, and had decided it was time to play with his older brother.

"Not good enough," Lex repeated with a twinge of disbelief in his voice. "Lian, you're not allowed to lord over my strategic seductions and one night stands. It doesn't matter if it's good enough when I'm looking for distraction. You don't want me to fuck up your social life, do you?" He could, though not without a vague fear that Lionel would have some retaliation ready.

"What's there to fuck up? After all, I'm moving to Smallville," Lian told him with a brilliant smile as he paused by the door to his own bedroom. "I don't even know anyone, Lex. But I'm going to make sure that they're at least worthy of you, if it comes down to it, and that one? That one wasn't."

"Your altruism is touching," Lex bit out as he walked the few feet to his door. It was hard to not yank it open, but he wasn't going to give Lian that satisfaction; once he was in his room, he walked to the adjoining door, and locked it.

For all that Lian was a better lock-picker than he was, the symbolic gesture felt good to make.

* * *

"What do you _mean_ , Lian says he's staying in Smallville!?" Lionel was furious. He was worse than furious, actually, but he could wait until he could take it out on Lex instead of his secretary. "I don't CARE if he wants his tutor, you tell him to come home!" he demanded.

"Perhaps you should call him back yourself, Mr. Luthor?" the secretary suggested mildly.

"Did I say that _I_ _want_ to speak with him?" Lionel fumed. "No. No, I did not. Call him. Tell him to come home. _Now_."

"Of course, Mr. Luthor." She turned off the intercom, and was probably was doing just what he'd told her to. Not that Lian would listen to her if he was the one who answered the phone.

Lionel wanted to throw something. Something hard. Preferably right through the huge glass window to the side of his desk. There was just something _about_ his younger son that made him want to do that. Frustrating, because Lex had always made him want to teach him a _lesson_. With Lian, there was nothing that Lionel wanted to do except coddle him a bit more. Lian, after all, was different.

Lian was perfect, and Lian was literally Alien, and Lian had no idea of it. He was a powerful tool for the Luthor family and a beloved child mixed into one, and it left Lionel a simmering frustrated mess.

But he could work Lian's little rebellion into his plan.

He could use Lian to make things difficult for Lex. To teach him new things.

To teach him to use his _resource_.

Everything would work out just fine in the end. Maybe he ought to just send the tutor down to Smallville, after all. It would be a bit more fun for him to frustrate his sons first, though. At least for today.

Toy with them both. Some sharp yelling, promises of aftereffects, and finally caving when both least expected it. It would easily throw Lex into another bought of paranoia, and probably make Lian even more set to stay in Smallville.

It was just perfect.

* * *

With some amount of care, Lian had slipped out of the house, gotten his car out of the garage, and gotten to Reallyfuckingtinyville without Lex catching him at it. With any luck, whatever had made him sick before wouldn't affect him _nearly_ so badly this time, and he was determined to see if it was the girl herself or something else.

Lex had taught him that one had to know their own weaknesses to better keep others from exploiting them. Not that Lex ever seemed to listen to his own words. But they were good in theory and good in action.

The Beanery was sickeningly bustling with activity when he pulled his car up into the parking lot. There was no sign of Lex, which meant that he could spy on things all on his own if he was lucky. It was enough to make a slightly vicious grin sneak across Lian's lips before he slid out of the car and locked the door behind him, setting the alarm once he'd left it. Just because it was a _classic_ and he liked his cars in perfect original condition didn't mean he wasn't going to install alarms.

It tended to nullify all of the hard work he'd put into a car if some asshole just walked off with it. Lex had taught him that, too, with his personal insistence on alarming his own cars.

Lex, Lex, Lex. Lex was at the plant, weighted down with paperwork. And Lian was supposed to be spying on that bubbly handful of ass that was the jock's girlfriend, not thinking about his brother. Lana was still in there, waitress's pad in hand, pacing past the window.

He didn't _feel_ sick at the sight of her, so maybe it was something she'd been wearing besides the cheap perfume, he thought, frowning a little before stepping into the coffee shop. There was no overwhelming feeling of illness at first exposure, so maybe whatever it had been was a one-time thing. "Hi," he called to the Lana-girl, smiling at her slightly.

"Oh, hi! Are you feeling better today...?" She obviously couldn't remember his name to drop it into her sentence, so she just drove onwards blindly as she sauntered over towards his table. Lana was still a vision of pink, fluff and denim, licking her glossy lips like she was preparing for a really hard test.

"MUCH better," Lian assured, eyes eating her up as she walked up to him. Very pretty, though not his usual style. Still, it might very well irritate that witless wonder Lex had been macking on before, and that was worth chatting her up a bit. "I've never been so sick before. Just kind of a natural disinclination for illness, I think. Thanks for asking."

"You scared everyone pretty badly," Lana smiled, tapping absently at her little pad. "Now, what do you want?"

His eyes lingered over her, touching the highlights of breasts and waist and hips and thighs before darting back up to her mouth and eyes. "Hm. I don't know. What's good, Lana? What do you like best?"

"We make a great iced cappuccino, but it's kinda cold outside..." Her lips thinned, and looked at him thoughtfully. "Cinnamon Mocha? Sounds good?"

"That sounds _perfect_ ," Lian told her, giving her a delighted grin. "Cinnamon's one of my favorite things. My mom used to make cinnamon toast by the fire sometimes when Dad and Lex were out doing Dad-and-Lex things. It makes me think of her."

"Oh, wow, so you really _are_ Lex Luthor's brother?" Lana asked, startling oddly. But that didn't wipe the silly smile off of her face as she noted down cinnamon cappuccino on her pad.

"For as long as I can remember, yeah," Lian agreed, smiling at her a little sheepishly. "Lex is a great guy, most of the time. When he's not letting Dad aggravate him, anyway. I think I'll keep him."

She laughed quietly, and smiled, "Good idea!" before turning away to get him his coffee.

Yeah, good idea. Like it was a choice. Lian was eternally connected to Lex whether he'd been adopted or not, and he wasn't about to let go of that. Not when he _wanted_ Lex, and he could admit it to himself. After all, he'd seen what Lex did to girls and boys, used them, threw them aside. He'd never be able to do that to Lian, and Lian would make sure of it.

For now, though, he'd settle for sitting and drinking his coffee and asking a few questions.

Lana would drift back any moment now -- well, once the coffee was done -- and probably chat with him, flirt with him on company time. Because he had a goofy, pretty smile, bright eyes, and a handsome face, it was easy to break through to girls, guys, anything he wanted.

He probably could talk Whitney into bed faster than Lex could, if he wanted to play that game. It would be a delight to do it, just to see if he could piss Lex off. Make him _jealous_. The fact that Lex had locked the door between their rooms had certainly made Lian mad enough that he'd damned near destroyed the handle on his side with the spurt of fury that had filled him when he'd slowly turned the thing. All that remained was a balled up knot of metal and shattered glass.

He could have just opened his door, and snuck out into the hallway, but that wasn't the point. Lian had wanted that adjoining room for a reason, and he'd thought Lex had been catching on. Well, he had, but not in the way Lian had been expecting.

"Here you go," Lana smiled as she swayed back towards him, setting down a ceramic mug that was topped with cinnamon sprinkled froth.

"Thanks," Lian told him with a smile, tilting his head to the side slightly. "You're not _too_ busy, are you? You could stay for a minute, tell a lonely new resident a few things about this place called Smallville, right? Take pity on me." It was wicked teasing, his eyes sparkling with sheer delight.

And she fell for it, hooked and jumping out of the lake for him. "No, I'm not too busy. What do you want to know?" she smiled brightly, pulling up a chair.

"Mmmm... Everything!" The enthusiasm with which he said it made her laugh, toss her head back. She was definitely very pretty, there was no denying it. Not as exquisite as his brother, but she'd do. With any luck, Lian would piss off the jock _and_ Lex, get their attention. "I haven't been here since '89. I don't remember it so well."

"You were here the year the meteors crashed...?" Lana's bottom lip wibbled just a fraction, before she gave a little smile to mask it.

"Yeah," Lian said, nodding slowly. "Orphaned, I think. Dad found me here, adopted me. Apparently, I had found Lex out in the field where he'd lost his hair. Dad won't tell me any more than that."

"Oh, wow. I didn't know that... You've only been here a couple of days, and you're way more personable than your brother." She smiled, leaning forwards to toy with the edge of a napkin. "I lost my parents on that day, too."

More personable than Lex? NOBODY was more personable than Lex, not if people were actually paying attention. The mere consideration pissed off Lian. "Really? Wow. That sucks. I don't remember anything before then, before my family, so I don't really worry about it too much. I feel kind of bad about Lex's hair. The radiation, you know? From the meteors. He lost all of it. It was this really bright, silky red. Dad still has locks of it, but he doesn't show them to Lex."

Lana laughed softly, leaning forwards on her elbows. "That's kind of creepy. What's it like living up in that huge castle? Whitney was telling me about it..."

"Just like anything else, I guess. Lex makes bad jokes about it being haunted. What's so creepy about Dad keeping his hair?" Lian seemed honestly confused, though he knew very well what Lana was implying. It was actually a lot more true than Lionel would ever want anyone to know. "Our mom kept locks from our first haircuts, too. Well, I mean, I was three when I had my first haircut with them, but she still kept it. Seemed kind of important to her."

That explanation made Lana smile, and he could see in her eyes how she attributed it -- even Lionel's actions -- to being linked to their mom. "I guess it is. I don't know what tokens and mementos my parents might've kept... and Nell just isn't good about things like that."

Nell, Nell... that struck Lian as ever so faintly familiar. "Nell is...?" He paused, looking at her and frowning. "Hm. Um. Nell Potter, maybe? Dad knew somebody named that a while back, I think..."

Lana nodded vigorously. "Yes! That's my aunt Nell. I don't think I've ever met _you_ before, but I have met Lex. It was the summer I was ten and he was, uh, skinny-dipping in the pool with another boy." Her mouth twitched upwards a little, and she went back to toying with the napkin. "Hey, are you going to go to school here?"

Lian remembered that boy, too, even if he didn't remember Lana or even her aunt very well. He remembered hating him passionately and he remembered ripping the entire chassis loose beneath the guy's car one night when Lian had caught him sneering about Lex behind his back. If he hadn't thought grinning about it would have scared Lana half to death, Lian would have been completely fucking _feral_. "I hadn't really thought about it. I mean, I have a tutor, and I'm registered at Pineland in Metropolis..." He chuckled. "Still, it might be fun to attend public school. Dad would have a _fit_."

"You mean you never -- well, duh, Lana." She smiled, shifting in her chair minutely. "Of course you never went to a public school. I... I like Smallville High, but then again, I'm a freshman. I haven't been there long enough to dislike it."

"I'm a senior, so I guess I wouldn't be there long enough to _dislike_ it," Lian chuckled. "Hm. Sounds like a great idea, actually. It'd irritate Dad _and_ I'd get to meet a lot of new people..." And find out if there was any kind of competition for Lex's affections, too, because teenagers gossiped more than anybody else _anywhere_.

Lana almost grinned, but gave him a vaguely wary look. "You're really into making your dad angry...?"

"Only because it's fun to see what he'll do. Lex went through this whole destructive phase when EVERYTHING he did pissed off Dad. With Lex, though, Dad always _thinks_ about it. Tries to make a lesson out of it. With me, he's different. It makes him do silly things. Throw glass baubles. Wave his fists around and dance kind of like a monkey." Lian was grinning with delight at the mere thought.

"Whitney's father does that once in a while," Lana smiled. "I think that's actually pretty normal for parents. So, you're going to follow in the footsteps of your big brother?"

"There's nothing I want more in this world than to follow Lex," Lian told her, pure admiration shining in his face. "Lex is... Lex is really something. I mean, I know the kinds of things people say about him, but he's not like that. He's better than that. He's better than _anybody_."

She smiled, humoring him and what she probably thought was brotherly admiration. "He drives like a maniac," she drawled simply at him. "And... he's been stalking around the plant, acting like... like Chloe's dad should. He's the manager at the Plant."

"Chloe's dad?" Lian asked, just to clarify. "He _does_ drive like a maniac, but he taught me how to drive, so I probably drive just like him. Plus..." A shrug of broad shoulders and a brilliant smile were cast her way. "Dad sort of feels like this is Lex's training ground. He _wants_ Lex to be like that, he expects it of him. Lex has a lot of expectations to live up to. I think people should give him a little bit of a break."

She nodded while he talked, and then said, "Maybe he should tell people that. We're not mind-readers..."

"Yeah, but see, that's not the point," Lian told her. "And he'd be pissed off if he knew that _I_ mentioned it. Lex wants people to like him for himself, to not make assumptions about him. Lex is really the better of the two of us." Because Lex thought of himself as a freak. Because Lex only wanted to make things grow and bloom beneath his fingertips.

Lana smiled a little, glossy-lipped as she started to get to her feet again. "You're being humble. Hey, I have to get back to taking orders, but, uhm..."

"Thanks for sitting and talking to me. I really appreciate it." Sweet honesty. People loved that sort of thing from Lian, even if it was a lie beneath that thin veneer of smiles. She was still VERY pink. "I'll think about going to school here."

"Give it a try? I mean, if you're a senior already, it won't even be that long. I mean it's already mid-fall," she laughed over her shoulder at him. For him, as if his sweet lying honesty was just for her.

The goofy grin that he gave her probably just intensified that. "Yeah, sure. If all the girls are as pretty as you..." Lian trailed off teasingly.

Her cheeks flushed pink -- predictably -- and she tossed him another grin before heading towards the bar.

That left Lian with a really shitty-tasting coffee with too much damned cinnamon. It was one of the disadvantages of chasing after Lex all the way to Smallville; the coffee completely fucking _sucked_. He wondered how Lex stood it -- his brother had only one great last addiction left, and it was caffeine. Still, he'd give a shot at drinking it. Maybe if he was lucky, he'd get a chance to aggravate the quarterback a little before he headed home.

It was a vague plan. Lex would be back from the plant by then.

* * *

Searching through his collection of cars for one that could blend away into the parking lot of Smallville high had been a harrowing task. But Lex had managed it, and had parked over in the visitor's section before wandering over to the football fields to spy on their practice.

It wasn't real stalking. Just... friendly interest.

Right. Friendly interest. In a boy who was wearing a very tight pair of sweatpants. And bending over a lot.

It was a real shame that he didn't bend over some more, Lex thought, peeking out from where he lurked to the side of the stands.

No, not lurked. Lurking implied something immoral, something wrong, and he was indulging in neither. He wasn't, he reminded himself sharply, a flasher trussed up in a trench coat with a hand down his pants as he watched.

Unfortunately, Lex was wearing a long coat, and his hands were both shoved deep into his pockets. But that was just to keep from being cold, and he wasn't lurking. He was lingering.

It was a shame that there was so little he could indulge in by way of life's little pleasures that didn't make him shiver with paranoia.

Well, paranoid or not, it was greatly enjoyable to watch Whitney do his quarterback thing. Whatever that was, because Lex really wasn't a 'football' kind of guy. He wasn't sure he'd ever even watched an entire game. The concept didn't _escape_ him, it was just that.... Well. The basics of 'lots of big guys trying to squash the little quarterback' had never appealed to him. He imagined it to be like Lian chasing him down and squashing him flat into the dirt... which had happened on occasion out in the family gardens when neither of them thought Lionel or anyone else was looking.

The most enjoyable part of football was the asses. Lex had long ago decided that he was an ass man. Men, women, it was all about the ass when he was looking for a throw-away fuck. Something gorgeous to wrap his hands around and clutch when he shoved into them.

And little quarterback Whitney had an exceptional looking ass. Spandex and thin cotton were the saviors of organized sports.

Lex was in _love_ with Whitney's ass. There was no denying it. Of course, there were a couple of other really nice asses wandering around on the field, too, and that fact had not escaped Lex's wandering eye. No, he wanted to be _fully_ occupied while in Smallville. He wanted moans to come from his bedroom every possible night.

He wanted Lian to hear him and grind his not-quite-perfect teeth in his _sleep_.

His little trick with the adjoining door had done just what he wanted it to do -- pissed Lian the fuck off, according to the mess one of the maids had described to him. So a locked door and the moans of a beautiful person combined would probably leave his little brother trashing his chosen prison.

And there went the quarterback again, and there were hands on his ass shoving him forwards. That was a move Lex wanted to put in all of the playbooks.

"'Scuse me, um, MISTER Luthor." It was a fairly sarcastic voice. "Was there something specific you wanted, or are you just eyeing the straight boys?"

Lex turned minutely to face the person addressing him, and dragged his eyes briefly over the short boy's face. Not tiny short, but relatively short, and scowling at him to go with it. "Do I have to have a reason for being here, Mister, ah... Ross?"

The belligerent scowl and narrowing of eyes were undeniably adorable in a stubbornly cute way. Not good looking enough to piss off Lian, but definitely amusing. "It's a small town, Mister _Luthor_. People catch you at this kind of thing, they don't say good things."

"My father owns the Metropolis Sharks, and Smallville will no doubt win yet another state championship. There's every chance one of these players will find their way into what I consider a business investment." He was even bothering to explain his reasoning, and he didn't do that for anyone. "But you'll think what you want, won't you?"

Pete Ross had the nerve required to look just a little sheepish, but not much. "You just watch out, Mister Luthor. We all know about you."

Lex turned bodily away from the football game, and bodily towards Pete, catching and holding his eyes. "Then enlighten me."

"You know as well as I do what they say. What they _print_. And you can't do anything about it 'cause it's all true. That's about right, isn't it?" Pete was firm in his resolve and his dislike.

"It sure is," Lex replied, and there was more than a hint of bite to his words. "Take a minute and think about what you just said, Ross. Have you ever walked into a store to do some shopping, and found yourself being followed just because you're black and the bigoted owner thinks you'll steal something?"

"That doesn't happen here in Smallville," Pete told him stubbornly.

"I bet it doesn't." Lex's smile was tight on his mouth, draped over the bite of his words and anger. "In fact, I'm sure there's not a single bigoted person in Smallville. You certainly aren't just jumping to conclusions, are you? No, you have a tried and true, hackneyed old stereotype to back up your words."

"You're a Luthor. We already know how they like to screw people over here, and from everything I've already heard, you're not any different than your father. And now there's another one of you, isn't there?" Pete's jawline was clenched. "You just be careful, Mister Luthor. And maybe you should stop watching, 'cause Whitney? He likes _girls_."

Fuck Smallville. Lex was glad his hands were in his pockets, because he could clutch them into white-knuckled fists and not look like he was moments away from shaking with anger. "Why're you telling me this?" Lex asked in careful uninterested tones.

The look Pete Ross sent him was disbelieving. "'cause you're looking at him like he's _apple pie_ , man. And you just said the rumors were true!"

"Yeah, they're all true," Lex scoffed boredly. "You're looking at one evil, queer Luthor. I'm planning on taking over this town, then pillaging the houses and raping, oh, let's say the entire football team and the cheerleading squad." He turned smoothly away from Pete, and started to walk away.

"Don't get any bright ideas, Luthor. I'm watching you!" the shrimp growled, but it really just made him look silly and slightly pouty. "You watch it!"

Jesus, he'd thought Lex was being serious? Lex kept walking, hands still in his pockets; he'd go back to his car and just wait, watch the parking lot, and pick up following Whitney from there.

A brief notion of offering the quarterback a ride flitted through his mind, and then Lex sighed. No, he _wouldn't_ be discouraged by some brat who couldn't be any older than Lian and who was obviously just as petty. He wouldn't... except he already was. It made him a little disgusted with himself.

It made him a lot disgusted with himself. Smallville was officially full of pretty people -- people with a spark in them, a something that made Lex want to stay there and explore their quaint society -- who wanted to fuck him over.

He slipped into his car, slumped down in the comfortable leather, and closed his eyes for just a moment. Practice would last another handful of minutes, then he'd hear cars pulling out of the student lot, and he'd follow Whitney. And bump into him wherever he was going.

Easy as that.

Lian was going to _desperately_ regret ever following him to Smallville. Lex was determined of _that_ , just as he was determined to ultimately annoy every last member of the tiny little town by having his way with their younger, prettier citizens. It was a _great_ plan for his spare time.

It was funny how at that point, his toying idea of getting laid had mutated into something done mostly to piss his younger brother off. Sure, it had great benefits for both causes, but the clear cause in forefront was pissing Lian off.

Maybe he should have paid more attention to the therapists his father had hired when he was younger. God knows they'd told him he was jealous and obsessive, not in as many words, but. _But_. They had still said it, and it certainly hadn't become any less true over the years. He needed to spend more time distracting himself from thoughts of Lian.

So, sex and money and profit and pulling an ass-backwards plant up by its bootstraps. Lian could live in the same house with him, but it didn't matter. He'd pay him no more attention than a servant.

A servant that he loved and hated, envied and prized, and it just wasn't going to work.

If it wouldn't have looked _totally_ stupid, Lex would have banged his head against the steering wheel. As it was, a knock on the window startled him out of his thoughts, the fist giving it dropping to reveal a faintly curious Whitney.

Lex didn't have to fake his absolute surprise, jerking him into action -- just hitting a button to roll down the window, blinking himself firmly awake. "Hey."

"Hi. What are you doing here?" Whitney asked with a pleasant enough smile, leaning down to peek into his car. "God, this thing's gorgeous."

A soft, slow chuckle, and Lex flashed Whitney a smile. "It really is... I just drove by to see how your championship winning team practiced, but I think I nodded off."

The smile Whitney gave was pretty bright. "So you got to see us?" he asked. "I think we look pretty good this year. Not quite as good as last year, but we're getting there."

"I don't doubt that you'll pull the team through again." Please don't let him ask about plays or anything; Lex wasn't sure that he could bullshit that properly enough to get away with it. "A Met U scholarship is the fastest way for someone from Smallville to hit it big, after all. You've got to remind your fellow seniors of that."

"Yeah," Whitney agreed with a nervous grin. "I'm hoping to go either there or to Kansas State. That's where the best scholarships come from." His eyes lingered on Lex's car. "Um. Anyway. Just thought I'd say hi..."

"Well, 'Hi'," Lex smiled slyly. "If you're going into town, I was headed to the coffee shop -- still haven't had a chance to try the coffee. Every time I walk in there, there's some minor disaster."

The way the quarterback's face brightened was almost disgustingly sweet. "Yeah, I was going to see Lana, anyway. She's on shift this afternoon. I could follow you..."

He'd follow him all right. Lex smiled a little, careful to not let his zeal show through, and started up his car. "See you there, then."

And Lex was gone, off in a quick swerve of motion and a roar of sound, leaving Whitney staring after the car for a moment before he headed for his own truck.

There wasn't enough road between the high school and 'downtown' to the coffee shop. Not enough twisting curves and flat lanes to satisfy and burn out Lex's adrenaline. He was going to have to be careful, but he could do careful. It had just been a while since he'd had to keep backed away to properly succeed.

There was no doubt in his mind that he was _going_ to succeed. He was going to have the quarterback, and he was going to rub Lian's nose in it hard. Speaking of Lian... Well, he hadn't been, but Lian was the proverbial bad penny, red Mustang already parked in front of the Beanery.

Lex pulled to a park a few spaces over, eyeing that damned car. He could wait a moment, and then go in when Whitney did, and perhaps Lian would have vacated the premises by then. Perhaps Lian would ignore him, still be angry because of the locked door.

Right.

Perhaps his hair would grow out again, too, and maybe their mother would come back from the dead, and just conceivably his father would decide that Lex was his favorite son, after all.

It he was going to daydream, he might as well weave it into a proper Americanized fairy tale. Not the real fairy tale that was his fucker of a little brother, his personal freakishness, his dead mother and his sharp father. Or the realization that he was toying with the though that maybe... maybe Lian had the same inappropriate urges that Lex had. Maybe they were equally fucked up together.

And maybe Whitney had a beautifully tight ass, and Lex could distract himself with it. The moment that Whitney's truck pulled up, Lex got out of his car, and locked it.

"You know," Whitney told him cheerfully, "I don't think anybody would take it. I mean, DROOL on it, maybe, but. This is Smallville. I think the last thing that got stolen was a lolli out of Pop's store, and the kid's mom gave him a _walloping_."

"Habit," Lex excused with an easy shrug, and he pocketed his keys. "And a good habit to keep -- when I have to go back to Metropolis for business matters, well... an unlocked car is an open invitation for theft."

"And I'd bet anybody would be glad to walk off with that outside of Smallville." Friendly, open smile. If Pete Ross had been there, he probably would have created new words to represent Lex's perceived perversions. "It's gorgeous."

"A man has to have his hobbies," Lex smiled faintly. All sorts of hobbies, some of them odder than that simple one. "C'mon. You can tell me if anything in this place is actually drinkable."

"Whatever you do? Don't order anything involving cinnamon, cappuccino, or mocha," Whitney advised as they moved towards the front door of the Beanery. "I, uh, don't think Lana's really learned the difference yet."

"Great -- I'll get espresso in water," Lex sneered, mouth tugging into a smile as he pulled open the door and half-held it open for Whitney behind him. "You'll live off of that when you go off to college. Some people give up with diluting it and just drink the shots straight."

The laugh that gained him was overwhelmed by the sound of Lian, a faint nudge of noise that seemed to come straight to Lex. It almost made him miss Whitney's confession of not being much of a coffee drinker. "...Cherry Pepsi is better," the blond chuckled. "They make it with real cherry syrup down at the Dairy Queen."

"You're shitting me. They actually still do that anywhere?" Lex laughed quietly. But he didn't feel the laugh as he walked towards a table that would afford him the luxury of putting his back to Lian.

It didn't save him from the giggles of the witless wonder of waitresses, unfortunately. "See?" he heard Lian whisper to her. "Now, listen. He's going to say..." And whatever came next was obscured. Lex wished he could kick him.

"Just down the street. I'm telling you, it's the best Cherry Pepsi _ever_ ," Whitney said, turning towards Lana instead of seating himself with Lex. "Lana..." The faint expression of jealousy that shifted over his face was disturbing.

"Hi," Lian greeted. "I figured I'd have a conversation with the proverbial Smallville prom queen." He gave a wink to Lana, drawing more giggling laughter from the girl.

"Whitney, Lian was telling me that he's going to try to finish up his schooling right here in Smallville," Lana smiled. She was still giggling ever so slightlym which was no doubt making Whitney's jealousy flare hotter.

"Really?" Lex asked, twisting a little to look behind him at his brother. "Is today Piss Off Lionel day, Lian?"

"When I called his secretary? I heard him start yelling at me to come home before I even told her I wasn't coming." Lian was grinning brilliantly, entirely too pleased with himself. "I sent Mr. Kensington on vacation. He wanted to visit Hong Kong. He'll be back in two weeks, and until then, I'm sure it won't be too difficult to get enrolled in the local high school, Lex... It's not like it can do me any damage."

Lex made himself relax in the chair, still looking at his brother. "You'll still go to college when I did, so I can't see the harm of it. Just hope to God your tutor doesn't get himself arrested again."

The shrug of broad shoulders followed, Lian laughing. "Well, I guess when you have a fondness for small, flexible, Oriental boys, you just...have a fondness for small, flexible, Oriental boys." He looked at Lana. "My tutor is entertaining on many levels."

She turned as pink as her shirt, and Lex was sure that Whitney was turning red to match his letter jacket -- embarrassment, shock, or yet more jealousy and rage, Lex couldn't be bothered to tell.

"Lian, don't scare the natives." Lex tried to make it sound teasing, but his eyes -- as he tried to catch Lian's -- were flat with anger.

"Nobody's scared. Are you scared?" Lian darted a look at Lana from beneath dark lashes, giving her a teasing smile and drinking something that stunk of cinnamon all the way to Lex's chair.

"Lana, come on and take Lex's order," Whitney grumbled, scowling at Lian.

"Sorry to make you wait," she smiled at Lex, but brushed past Whitney as she walked away from Lian's table. His brother worked fast, driving a wedge in a seemingly good, solid relationship.

Too damn fast. He was supposed to be the one doing that, and he'd been pretty sure that he would've been able to get Whitney into bed without separating him from Lana. There was almost little sense in planning a social life with Lian around.

"It won't be much trouble," Lex assured. "Just an Espresso Macchiato."

"An... Espresso Macchiato?" Lana looked a little panicked, and definitely blank. "Um. Right. Coming right up," she said, and began to bustle off towards the back to _ask_ someone what that was.

"Hey, Lana! I want a Coke!" Whitney called, scowling at Lian. "Pervert," he muttered under his breath.

"No, just molester of prom queens," Lian answered snidely. "Sorry, quarterbacks aren't usually my style."

Lex snorted tensely, but was still half-bothering to fake a decent smile. "Oh, I don't think he's disappointed to hear that, Lian."

"No," Lian agreed. "I really don't think he is, either, are you, Whitney?"

The vein in the quarterback's temple was throbbing. "Keep it up, Luthor. I can make your life miserable if you do."

"That's probably not a wise thing to say," Lex advised, both amused and suddenly stirred to anger himself, though he didn't feel it in that moment any more than he was _feeling_ his tossed out fake smiles. No one threatened Lian in his presence and got away with it. "You're admitting defeat the moment you fall into saying just what he wants you to say."

"Why would I want him to say a thing like that, Lex?" Lian was all false innocence. "It's not like there's even anybody around to care but you, I mean, Lana's wandered off to try and figure out a Macchiato and everything." Oh, yes, Lian had _exactly_ what he wanted.

Lex closed his eyes for a moment, and then resolutely turned his back to Lian. "You can fight your own battles here, Lian, and play your own games, without me." If he involved himself, it would all fall on his head. If he didn't, it would still all fall on his head.

He might as well take the least stressful route.

There would have been no denying the stricken expression that crossed Lian's face for a moment if Lex had only seen it. He didn't, though, and Whitney missed it, only catching the flash of fury that made the younger man's jaw clench. "I'd hate to think I'd inconvenienced you, Lex," he said a little sarcastically as Lana came back with something that vaguely resembled what his brother had requested. "I mean, I'm just your brother."

"Are you all right?" Lana asked him, eyes wide as she looked at Lian, nearly spilling Lex's coffee in his lap.

"Don't start that, Lian. You're not ten," Lex snapped, jerking back away from Lana. "Watch where you're putting that!"

"He'd miss it, you see," Lian told her, lower lip poked out in a firm pout. "He's pretty fond of it, as you've already noted." The words made the girl laugh, and made Lex give him a LOOK. That was better.

Becoming the recluse in the castle once more was looking damn appealing. His stress relief was stressing him out more than the actual stressor of work. "Very fond of it," Lex agreed icily, shifting to his feet. "Can I get this to go, Lana? There are some important calls I need to make."

"And we need to _talk_ ," Whitney ground out in a voice as hard as broken glass.

"Sure. I can. I'll, um, go and put it in a cup." The frown on Lana's face was one of vague confusion; but Lian had put on that _face_ that said he was the one somehow wronged, so it was no wonder that she was doubting the reactions of Lex and Whitney. Maybe Lian had some weird mutant mind-altering power.

Or perhaps just a pretty face and a bright smile sufficed now-a-days. "I'll see you up at the manor later, Lian -- have fun."

The fun was out of the day without Lex to aggravate, but Lian didn't let _that_ shine from his face the way his irritation had. "Sure, Lex. I'll see you at _home_." The way Lian stressed that was firm, and the way he smirked at Whitney said that it was his claim on Lex, his _mark_.

Lex was probably lucky that Lian didn't just piss on him.

Lex decided he would've been luckier still if he had missed that innuendo. He flashed Lian a grimace of a smile, and once he had his macchiato wanna-be in hand, he handed Lana a five and walked towards the door with as much dignity as he could muster. "Have a good day... you, too, Whitney."

"See you later, Lex." Whitney _still_ sounded pissed, and it was obvious from the way he was glaring at Lana and Lian that his brother had stirred up the wrong pot and was probably going to get some kind of explosion out of it.

Good. He hoped the pot was full of water and cubes of sodium coated in a thin film of wax, and that with a good enough stir, Lian would expose the sodium, and then...

And then it was probably best for Lex to be walking towards his car with steady determined speed. If something was going to blow up, he wanted to be out of range when it happened.

* * *

"Good of you to finally come _home_ , Lex." The voice that greeted him was bitter, the speaker hidden by the back of the sofa before Lian sat up and glared at Lex. His expression was hard, a little angry, and he seemed pissed.

Lex moved to hang his jacket up, nonplussed as he passed by Lian. "Glad to see that my little brother thinks he's my keeper."

"Someone has to be, Lex." The sentence was hard, spoken harshly. "If I didn't think I had the job, you'd be dead right now."

"Really?" Keep it calm and bored, Lex reminded himself. It was the only way for his brother to not know that he was following the bait.

"Yes, _really_." Lian was nearly snarling with fury as he rose up and crowded Lex back against the cabinet full of liquor and glasses towards which he'd been moving. "You didn't think you'd just magically escaped that fucking Porsche, did you?"

Trapped animals could either run for it, run in sheer fear, or stand their ground. The ones that stood their ground probably faced the same fate as the other two options, but at least Lex would be able to feel better about his fate for having stood his ground.

"I thought I had," Lex drawled carefully, taking a step towards the cabinet as if he didn't feel Lian's presence close behind him.

The faint brush of his brother's hands traced across his hipbones as Lian breathed the answer into his ear. "You didn't, Lex. There's a reason I didn't call you, _Lex_. I knew that you were safe. Lex."

Steady hands were important. Lex shoved down a shiver, picking up a bottle of his favorite brandy. "You're telling me that you pulled me out."

"I'm telling you that you'd be dead right now if I hadn't followed you to Smallville. I've been here off and on for two weeks before now, so get used to it, Lex. I'm not leaving."

Not words that were easy to digest. Lex closed his eyes for a moment, blindly picking up a glass for his drink. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would it have made you happy?" God, those hands were still on him. "No. It would have just pissed you off that I pulled you out of that river. You _want_ to be the dead son to my favorite, Lex. I won't let that happen."

"And here I thought that was why you followed me to Smallville. To drive my sanity over the bridge and be rid of me once and for all." Common sense told him that was why Lian was there; self-pity said it was because Lian needed to show him up to shine all the brighter; self-hatred said that it was because Lian was unaware of Lex's thoughts, innocent in at least one aspect.

Proper brothers didn't hold each other at the hip like Lian was doing.

"You're never going to be rid of me, Lex," Lian murmured huskily against his ear. "You're never going to find yourself without me. And I refuse to ever be without _you_. You're my brother, Lex." You're my everything, he didn't say.

"Then you probably need to move your hand from near my crotch," Lex murmured, taking a step towards and into the table, and then a smooth side-step in the fractional space he'd afforded himself.

"Does it make you nervous, Lex?" Lian allowed him that movement, and they both knew it. He couldn't have stepped away if Lian hadn't been willing to allow it. "I assume that's why you've locked the door between us."

"I enjoy the facade of privacy -- hence, I locked the door. If you hadn't mauled the handle, you and I both know that you could've picked it in a second." He'd retreated, but only far enough to try to stab in a deflecting blow at his brother.

"That's not the point, Lex. It's not ever going to _be_ the point. We both know I could break down the wall if I really wanted to." Lian moved away from him, and Lex knew his retreat was more than allowed; that it was also driving Lian to fit-throwing proportions.

"But you won't," Lex countered, turning smoothly to look at Lian and pour himself his drink at the same time. "Being so rash would be highly counterproductive for you."

It would, and they both knew it. Even if Lian didn't want to admit it. "I'm going to have what I want, Lex. You can't get out of it. Dying isn't an option any more than killing yourself with all of that shit you snorted and shot up was."

Funny how Lian was _wrong_. Lex had assumed he simply couldn't die, and now... now to know that he hadn't saved himself from that car, well, it made Lex feel cripplingly _human_.

"Hey, I gave you a first hand lesson about what substance abuse is a shitty idea. Better than any 'just say no' class. 'Just drag your high brother out of the parking lot where he passed out with a syringe in his arm'." Lex laughed it off, and took a slow sip of his brandy to steady himself.

He could almost feel the effortless shrug of Lian's shoulders. "I won't let you die, Lex." Ever. _Never_. "Death isn't an option for you, no matter how much you've tried to get there."

"Any reason, Lian, or would you just be bored if I weren't here?" They were both moving faintly, almost pacing, almost circling each other. Lex wondered when Lian was going to lunge for his exposed throat and rip it out.

The way those green eyes narrowed would have made anyone else a nervous wreck. "Because there's no one else out there like you and me, Lex. We have a destiny. A fate. Whatever you want to call it. You're not going to escape it by dying on me, no matter how much you might prefer it. I know how you feel about me. How you hate me. How you wish I had never been found wandering in that cornfield."

It was easier with Lian hating him. Easier, and it was a lie, and it was everything that Lionel liked them to play at. But the easy ways just weren't working.

"Sure. And that's why I read to you when you were little, and tried to teach you everything I knew. That's why I helped you plan your first party in Metropolis, and make sure you get into the best clubs even though you're hilariously underage. Because I hate you, Lian, and quite passionately, I showed you how to drive, and all of the other tedious shit that Dad's too busy to deal with except when it amuses him." He tipped his head a little to his brother, mouth curled in a bitter smile as he toasted the air in front of him.

"Then why do you keep pushing me away?" If Lex didn't know better, he'd think that question reflected _hurt_. "You've been doing it for the past three years. Dance around, try to kill yourself, fuck everybody who'll stand still, but don't ever let on that you might actually give a shit about _me_."

"Sit down, Lian," Lex murmured, gesturing with his shot glass. "Go, sit down, and I'll tell you why."

"Or you'll lie to me again," Lian said bitterly, flinging himself into the chair. He eyed Lex's glass longingly for a moment before he closed his eyes. "I just want you back, Lex." It sounded pitiful. It sounded _twelve_ , and God, he knew it. Regardless of how ruthless he could be with other people, Lian had never intended to be ruthless with Lex. He'd always looked up to him, loved him so desperately. So what if that had turned into something besides brotherly adoration?

So what if they were astonishingly fucked up together?

"I'm here, aren't I?" Lex made an expansive gesture as he settled into a chair across from the one Lian had chosen. "For the past three years... I've been trying to escape the shadows of those who are better than me. You want me back? Find me. I certainly can't. I'm just one of Lionel Luthor's sons, and the older brother of that cute kid that has half of Metropolis rolling over for him. So if you know where 'Lex' went, let me know."

The way Lian surged forward, came to hover over him in a blink of motion, would have made a lesser man shriek. Lex just took another swallow of his drink.

"I'll find you," Lian promised him fervently. "Lex. I'll find you. But when I do, I'm not letting go. You understand? It doesn't matter what it takes. It doesn't matter what I have to do."

Lex tilted his head up, looking up at Lian's familiar green eyes. "I think you and I are destined to work at cross purposes. I came to Smallville to prove I was more than just the stereotypical Luthor, and you swept into town, and... took what little thunder I had left. Back in the shadow again, as Julian Luthor comes to conquer Smallville. I know that's not your purpose, but you'll do it without even thinking about it."

The sorrow that darted through green eyes was followed by deep bitterness, almost betrayal. "Yeah, Lex. Because that's what I wanted. For a guy so intent on pointing out how you don't hate me, you do a matchless job of letting me know how you really feel." Brush of air against him, and then nothing, Lian gone again, and no matter how old he was, he had those moments. The ones that gave Lex a headache, because surely he'd never been so young and stupid as to run away like that, had he?

But he was still young enough to drive Lian to run like that. Young and stupid, even if the degree of it differed. They were in for months of cat and mouse, or so it felt. But maybe he could mix up the game. Cat and cat, instead of cat and mouse.

They could make Lionel the bait. And if it was a trap for him... then he was outnumbered and had at least tried to make a valiant effort to fight it. Lex stood up, and detoured long enough to pour himself another glass, three fingers of brandy, before he headed towards Lian's room.

* * *

If Lian had been capable of being cold, he would have been freezing by the time he came down from the roof. His hair was graced with a thin layer of frost and his clothes were wet from falling asleep up there. Dawn had nudged him awake more than the cold had, because he didn't really feel that.

Lex might think that he was a freak, might look like it to others, but the truth of the matter was that Lian was a much worse one, and he knew it.

It had been stupid to run. Lian had known it when he did it, but he hadn't _cared_ , not really. He'd just wanted to get away because Lex was going to _push_ him away, the way that Lex always did. Lex didn't understand. He didn't seem able to _see_ that Lian would do anything for him. Live. Die.

Kill.

How could he explain that, anyway? He couldn't, not when Lex thought it was all some rivalry. It had never been a competition, not to Lian. Why should it be? Lex was his brother. Lex was his other half.

Lex was _everything_.

But that was Lionel's fault. Put them in a room together with Lionel and a topic of conversation, and it always ended up with Lian and Lionel on the same page, and Lex bristling. Lex couldn't know that he was Lian's everything.

Even the incident with the car was something new that he hadn't known since it happened. Lex had assumed he'd done that himself, not been _saved_.

Lex was everything for Lian, and didn't know it at all. But Lex was dozing on Lian's bed when he entered his room early that morning, curled tiredly beneath the comforter in yesterday's clothes.

It was enough to make Lian soft, to make him wish that he'd come downstairs instead of hiding up on the roof amongst the stars. Quietly, he slid to his knees beside the bed and reached out a hand to touch Lex's face, to curve his hand around the back of his head. Lex was beautiful sleeping, lashes falling with a faint auburn cast against his cheeks, brows knit slightly above them as if he was worried. It just made Lian want everything he could get even more than he already did.

A touch, and Lex jerked. It was like poking a doberman in the ass with a taser -- Lex's personal space issues were favored folly for the gossip rags the day after gallery openings and gala charity events. He didn't strike out, though, just slitted his eyes open to look at Lian.

"Hey. You're back." Groggy, like he'd only recently fallen asleep.

"Fell asleep outside," Lian answered softly, not ready to give away his hiding place. "Didn't mean to. I didn't know you'd be waiting."

"Neither did I." Even coming out of sleep, Lex tried to keep things flippant, off the cuff. Off of his very wrinkled cuffs. He sat up slowly, rubbing at his face. "What time is it?"

"A little after six, I think." Lian was looking at him seriously enough. "Maybe we could get me enrolled in school today." Anything to keep from talking about the things they'd been discussing the night before. He wasn't ready for that yet.

Lex smothered a yawn with his hand. "Sounds fine. Can I assume Father is going to let me do this, or will I have to jump through hoops?"

"Let's just make assumptions? Mr. Kensington is still off chasing the shrimpy Oriental boys," Lian told him solemnly. "Not the best day to choose for first-day-at-school, but... Might as well get a start. Don't you think?"

"No time like the present." Lex rolled to his feet, and headed towards the door that joined their two rooms. "Get changed and meet me at the car. I'll drive you in."

"Yeah." Lian paused, watching with amusement as Lex reached for the mangled handle. "You want a little help, Lex?"

Lex curled his fingers over the mangled mess, then glanced back at his brother with a sigh. "It'd be appreciated, Lian."

A motion, swirl of color just behind him, and the knob was off, the lock rocketing into Lex's room. "I'll be ready in the next half hour," he promised. "And if you'll drive me this morning, I'll get a ride home this afternoon." He wasn't worried about getting back to the castle. After all, he could make it in less time than it took most people to walk from the front steps onto the lawn.

Lex turned to look at the broken door with bemusement for a moment. "I trust you won't get in trouble. Curfew is ten, do your homework, blah blah. Did that sound responsible enough?"

"Mmm." It wasn't really agreement, and it wasn't really an answer, either. Still, the look on Lex's face was worthy of something more, or so Lian seemed to decide. "Don't worry, Lex. I won't steal my way into your bedroom without an invitation. You can have the handle replaced while we're away."

"Like you said last night, Lian -- it's all symbolic. There's a perfectly good door off of the hallway, too." And Lian's hands had been on his hips, touching him, and retrospectively it could've been a very grand drunken dream.

A faint shrug of broad shoulders made Lian look young momentarily. "That's the way things are with you and me, Lex. There's always more than one path to every ending."

"Which is good in theory, as long as you're sure which ending you're heading for. Half an hour." And then Lex slipped through the door and closed it behind him. Ended the conversation, and gave them both some time apart and away from their games and the roles they fell into so easily.

They'd be able to pick it all up again later in the evening. Lian would make sure of it.

* * *

Lian would have made sure of it if he hadn't been in one hell of a lot of trouble. A _lot_ of trouble, and there was no other way to describe it.

The day had started off okay; Lex had gotten him enrolled in school, he'd met a few nice enough people, a girl named Chloe, some guy named Pete Ross who seemed to want to skewer him on the nearest sharp stick. That had made him laugh, but then he'd seen Lana again and he'd gotten distracted.

Very distracted.

Okay, so Lana was no Lex, but half the fun was in taking something away from that stupid blond quarterback. Especially since Lex had taken such delight in flirting with him.

Lex thought he flirted well, and he did -- with girls. But with boys, he was as subtle as a freight train. Or a tractor full of corn. Or something. He was eye catching about it, and it was probably some manifestation of paranoia or guilt or something, but he might as well have held a sign over his head that said 'Nope, don't like cock, not here, not me, not doing a thing' every time he got near Whitney.

So Whitney was Lian's target, worth it because there was something sweet about Lana. Something twisted and sweet, too, about the idea of stealing her from her quarterback.

At least, that had been his idea when he'd cornered her carefully near the lockers.

Some idea that had been.

He'd talked with her a little while, smiled at her, gotten her phone number. The fact of the matter was that Lana Lang was Nell Potter's niece, and no matter how many different ways that little nugget of truth got twisted, it would all amount to the same thing in the end.

Slut.

Lian _did_ remember Lana's aunt Nell for the simple reason that Lionel had fucked her for nearly three years after Lex's mother had died. Lian hadn't liked her very much at all. In fact, Lian was rapidly discovering that Lana's head was full of cheerleader fluff, and he'd never liked girls like that. How could he when he had Lex? Brilliant, beautiful Lex, and Lian liked all of his friends and lovers to be at least half as intelligent and gorgeous as his brother. It wasn't a great deal to ask, was it? He didn't think so.

He'd gotten a kiss from the girl before she'd headed off to the bathrooms, blushing faintly, and allowing him to escape to the parking lot to head home.

That was where the trouble had starte.

Sure, he'd half-suspected he was being watched. But he also hadn't expected them to play by rules unknown to him and unanticipated.

Lian had felt a wash of sick flood over him, and when he staggered, turned to see Whitney and other football players approaching him.

"Stay the hell away from my girl, Luthor!"

"Yeah?" His answer had seemed lazy, Luthor-esque in so many ways. "Or you'll what?" Lian had managed to keep the smirk on his face. He'd managed to maintain a facade of superiority.

He'd managed not to puke.

God, he hoped that would make Lex proud even when he showed up dead, because right now, dead was looking a hell of a lot better than _this_.

He shouldn't have asked 'or you'll what'. Whitney had proven more sadistic than Lian had expected him capable of; so defensively, jealously, sickeningly protective of his 'girl'.

But hanging from ropes that chafed his wrists, roiling with nausea, sweating with pain and writhing with weakness, Lian didn't even have the strength to be angry.

He wasn't sure he had the strength to do anything anymore, actually. He was hot and cold in flashes, skin covered in a heavy wetness where he'd sweated in reaction to whatever it was that was making him sick. He had the idea that it must be the necklace -- Lana's, according to Whitney -- but he couldn't get it far enough away from himself to _test_ it. It was all he could do to let loose a low whimper, strained from the bile and water he'd spit up earlier in the evening. He'd vomited up everything he'd eaten in his entire life, he thought, and he knew that he was dying. He was going to die in a cornfield in the middle of fucking _Kansas_ over a stupid girl that he didn't even want to fuck. A fitting end.

He hoped that Lionel would at least pretend to give Lex the affection he'd pretended to give Lian, once he was gone and dead.

The sky had been sunny when they'd first hung him out there, but now it was dark as pitch. Lian's unsteady breath rolled past his lips in frosty clouds. It wasn't fair that he was probably going to die of the cold, tied to a cross like some pseudo Jesus. Lex would've gotten a laugh out of that, at least before he cut Lian loose. But there was no way that his brother would even know to look for him, let alone where he would be.

Nobody knew except those stupid fucking football players and the weird guy who'd come by and muttered something about stopping this sort of ritual and then _left_ him hanging there. Lian was pretty sure that everybody in Smallville was insane.

He really wished Lex _would_ find him. Lian didn't want to die.

While he hung there, he didn't bother trying to bargain with God -- none of that 'please let me live, if you do, I'll be good' shit. Lian was pretty sure that if there was a God, he'd know Lian was lying through his teeth.

And that would've been funny, too, if he hadn't been in such pain.

"Anyone out there?" A flashlight flickered through the darkness and caught the edges of cornstalks.

"Lex?" It was more of a pathetic whimper than a cry for help, but it was the best that he could do. Trying anything else hurt too much. "Lex?"

"Lian? Shit, Lian!" His brother's voice was sharp with concern, and the gleam of the flashlight bobbed as it raced towards him.

Lex flicked a knife out of his pocket to cut the ropes before he even started to spout his streams of questions. "Fuck, Lian, what happened? Who did this? How long have you been up here?"

He couldn't _answer_ , just crumpled to the ground beneath him, still faintly soggy from all of his vomiting. Disgust made him roll over, and he suddenly felt better, gasping aloud with relief. "Fuck. Oh, fuck. I know what it is." Who cared if he was making sense? Not Lian. He couldn't bring himself to care when he _felt_ better, and the further he moved away from that thing Whitney had wrapped around his neck, the better he felt.

"Lian, Lian, calm down. Are you all right?" Lex knelt over him, pushing him to lay on his side so he could breath better. "Come on, tell me you're all right, Lian."

"I'm going to _be_ all right." Yes, he was, though he wasn't _all right_. He was sweaty and naked and hungry, and that wasn't exactly a good sign. "It's the necklace, Lex. It's something about that necklace..."

"Necklace..." Lex reached backwards, even as he shuffled his sport coat off and plopped it on Lian's chest. "Shit, this green thing?" He palmed it, and rose off of Lian at the same time.

The faint whimper his baby brother gave as it came momentarily closer had said a lot. "Yeah. Yeah, that. When he put it on, he said it was hers. Maybe she was wearing it that day." He, hers, that day. It wasn't really quite coherent.

And then and there, in the icy chill of the corn field, wasn't the time to grill Lian. Lex stooped, grabbing Lian's cold arms to haul him up. "Let's try to walk -- my car isn't far."

The moan Lian gave wasn't one of the sounds Lex had ever imagined; it was filled with a strange agony, one that twisted in the pit of his belly. "Leave the..." The necklace. Get away from him with the necklace, Lian wanted to say, but instead he went faintly limp against Lex.

"I'm going to kill whoever did this to you," Lex said with tight fury, that he hoped would encourage his brother to life again, or something like life. He'd never felt Lian's skin so cold, so lifeless beneath his hands, and started to run for the glow of his headlights.

"Going to..." Throw up, except there wasn't anything left, so he gagged, heaved and nothing came up, which made him feel even worse. He wanted to tell Lex to get the necklace away from him. He _did_ feel better, but. But. But. "L-ex."

"I know." Lex's voice was tight with his own brand of agony as he dragged Lian along step by step. "I'm not just going to leave something that can cause you so much damage laying in the field. I'll put it in the trunk when we get into my Porsche. There, you see? It's right there, Lian, we're almost there..."

Almost there, almost to the fence, and how they'd ever get over, or through, Lian couldn't pretend to imagine. He'd think about Lex, and about the comics he'd read to Lian in the dark when he was young and afraid of things. He'd think about anything and hope that it got him the rest of the way to the car. "Mmmm." It was really pathetic, whimpering like that.

"I fucking hate corn," Lex whispered, ducking down as they came to the fence. Through it, then, and he'd drag Lian if he had to. He could do it, they both knew he could; enough hours fencing and in the gym assured that. "This was the field where I almost died. I can't let it take you from me..."

"Brought me..." To Lex. The field. This was where Lionel had found him, then, and where Lex had lost his hair. For all Lian knew, his parents' skeletons were somewhere in that field, and it made him want to laugh. Lex had saved him from joining them, even if it _was_ a silly, melodramatic thought. Okay, it was _definitely_ an idiotic idea. "You." Yes. Brought him Lex, and they were struggling with the fence, and his legs felt all tangled, and his boxers were sliding off of him, and he didn't care. Didn't care.

Splinters on the upper curve of his ass, and then his skin rejected them after a painful moment, only seconds before he jarringly fell to the ground, and Lex was hauling him up to his feet again. "You're so cold, Lian -- keep talking to me, okay?"

"Necklace." If Lex would just take the fucking thing _away_ , if he'd just step away, it would be better. He'd felt better when it wasn't touching him anymore, hanging from his neck. "'s cold, Lex." Freezing, and Lian would have laughed if he could have. He'd had _frost_ on him last night and not even felt it, and tonight, he thought he'd die of the cold.

Was that what being normal felt like? He had to wonder if Lex ever got splinters in his ass or felt so fucking unbelievably cold. "I know -- here, lean against the door, I'll get this thing in the trunk." And then Lex propped him up, and stepped backwards.

It made Lian gasp, the force of feeling better so _good_ , so incredible. He wasn't as cold anymore, though shivers of pleasure rippled through him. God, he was getting hard just from feeling _better_. "Fuck, Lex. Get rid of that thing. Smash it. Do something."

"I'm going to analyze it." The trunk slammed closed, and Lex moved to the passenger side to let Lian into his Porsche. "Feeling better?"

"I'd feel better if it was gone." He was still a little queasy, and it got somewhat worse in the car, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the field had been. "They got the jump on me, and he had that fucking _thing_. Said it was Lana's, that it was as close as I'd get to her. Fucking whore." Well, okay, she SEEMED sweet enough, but still. Nell Potter. Lian wasn't going to forget that part.

Whore with a capital W.

"Who got the jump on you?" Lex leaned into the passenger seat as he buckled Lian into the seat. His sport-coat and Lian's ragged-looking underwear were all that covered his brother.

"Your new boyfriend." Lian sounded jealous and amused and helpless. "Doesn't like me chatting her up when he's flirting with you, I think. Him, three or four other guys. Somebody came through the field and left me there. Don't know what the hell that was all about."

Lex's ice-sharp eyes flared with anger for a moment, and then he closed his mouth into an angry line. "Whitney did this to you. I'm going to fucking kill him."

"Okay." Like he was going to argue? Ha. Lian had wanted to kill him ever since he'd seen Lex flirting with the goddamned jock. Lian _hated_ him. "Can I watch?"

Lex gave Lian a grim smile. "Tomorrow, Lian." He was mindful as he leaned back, and closed the passenger side door.  
Fuck. He'd been a poor judge of character once again, hadn't he? Lex had thought Whitney was the usual jock breed of idiot, not the vicious intolerant breed of jock who fucking crucified people.

"Hey, Lex?" Lian closed his eyes, brain throbbing behind the left one. "I'm glad you came. I didn't think anyone would." No, he'd thought that he was going to die there on that cross, and he wasn't ready for that.

"You're lucky I had my high beams on," Lex told him once he'd slipped into the driver's seat. "Sleep, okay? We'll be home soon."

Easy to close his eyes. Lian didn't think he'd ever sleep again, didn't think he'd be able to close his eyes and not see those fucking football players or the back of the hick _truck_ they'd thrown him into.

Lex hadn't even shifted into second by the time he fell asleep.

He was jostled gently awake not by the stopping of the car, but by the creak of expensive bedsprings beneath him, and fingers tugging at the elastic of his boxers. That sick feeling was far removed from him, just a haunting memory behind his eyelids.

"Wow." It was a tired slur of a word, amazing considering that Lian was _never_ tired. "You got me up the stairs." He lifted his hips to help Lex remove the rest of his clothing. He really needed a bath, but he didn't know if he had the energy required to get up and take one.

He must have startled Lex, because silence held as an answer for a few long moments before he murmured, "Winters helped me drag you up. You're not even full grown yet -- you're heavy enough now."

"Don't know that I'm not full grown." Well, all right, he probably _wasn't_. Even if his age had been misjudged, it couldn't be more than about three years off, and Lex had hit a last-minute growth no more than a year before, hadn't he? He'd grown another couple of inches and filled out and, wow. Not the thing to think about when he was naked. "Need a bath. Think I'm too tired to get one, though."

"You look like a dog chewed on you, Lian." But that didn't stop Lex from almost neurotically folding Lian's ruined underwear before dropping it on the floor, then sitting down beside him. "Wash in the morning, and sleep now. You did almost die out there, Lian," he whispered, voice intense as he leaned in towards his brother.

"Lex..." Heavy-lidded eyes perused him thoughtfully. "Would you have missed me?" God. Lex was so close, and Lian wanted to kiss him so badly. "You were all I could think about." Well. Mostly. There was that dying thing, too.

The edge of Lex's mouth quirked tightly. "I would have missed you, Lian. Badly. But I think you're fishing for compliments."

Lian couldn't help the smile that stole over his mouth, despite the exhaustion filling him. "Yeah, well. It's not every day I nearly die and you save me. Must be a Luthor thing." Saving one another's asses. Hm. Lex's ass. Okay, maybe he _should_ be sleeping. He hoped he hadn't said that aloud.

"Must be a Luthor thing to be obsessed with your sibling's backside." Lex leaned in to brush a kiss against Lian's temple, but he lingered too long. It wasn't just a simple press, and he pulled back only after it had already progressed to show a hint of what he felt. "Move your legs so I can tuck you in."

"You could give me a sponge bath." It was a feeble attempt at best, and Lian knew it, but he moved lethargically to allow Lex to pull the sheets up over him. "You're going to go take care of that thing." Lian also knew _Lex_ , and there was no question that his brother would be up the rest of the night fiddling with the thing. "I think it must be Lana's. She'd be able to tell you what it is."

"She's probably in the parking lot giving her boyfriend a blowjob. I'm not going to hunt her down now." Lex pulled them up to Lian's chest, and then smoothed them down. "Tomorrow. Is there anything you need right now?"

Lex, naked and curled up next to him. A bath. "Leave a glass of water?" He was thirsty from all of that sweating. He wanted milk, but water would be better for him. Gatoraide, maybe.

"I'll even fetch it for you myself," Lex promised softly. He sounded tired and ragged, but rose easily and moved towards the door that adjoined their rooms.

Lex kept his bottles of Ty Nant in a mini fridge near his bed, after all. It wasn't as if he had to go very far to get Lian his drink.

By the time he got back, his brother was asleep again, dark locks of hair scattered around his face, entire body sprawled out effortlessly as if taking up the entirety of the bed by himself was _easy_. As if it was something that was his natural right.

Lex wondered if he'd take up that much space if someone else was in the bed with him. And if he should bother waking Lian up to give him his water. Lex absently twisted the cap off, and put it on the bedside table.

He could do it. Strip off and crawl beneath the sheets with Lian. Give in to the most sick, debauched urge that he'd had in his life, and dry-hump his sleeping brother's body.

The faint curl of Lian's fingers around a pillow and the trusting openness of his body as he lay there prevented that. He couldn't. Not with Lian's eyes closed, not when Lian was so young by _design_ if not by reality. Not yet. Not... Not, yet. No, for now he'd go down and look at that necklace and try to figure out what it was.

Sleep, as he'd reminded himself almost every day that he'd been in school, was for the weak-willed and those who could close their eyes without nightmares.

Seeing Lian hanging from a cross was fuel enough for weeks of nightmares, weeks of nights spent in his workroom looking at the stone.

* * *

Morning was anything but bright and early. If anything, it came late and cloudy, and Lian was tempted to lay in bed and simply indulge himself in pure laziness. He couldn't stand the feel of his own dirty skin, though, so he got up and headed for the bath instead, pausing only long enough to guzzle down the blue bottle of water Lex had left him.

Lex. God. His big brother had _always_ been his hero, but he was so much more than that now. He'd always be more than that, and as soon as Lian got a bath, he was going to hunt Lex down and show him. He was tired of playing games.

But a long hot bath first. A shower would've sufficed the night before, but after he'd slept in his grime and dried sweat, a shower just wasn't going to cut it. Just like one bottle of water had been nice, but not quite enough.

Maybe he could find a couple of gallons downstairs when he was done. It sounded like almost enough, and the sound of the bath water as he ran it just made him thirstier. He could wait, though, could get himself clean before he went to find something to drink and Lex.

It wasn't as if Lex would be up and about yet, unless living in the small town had sudden given him an urge to be up when the cock crowed. No, his brother was dependable in his love of sleeping as late as possible. And on a dreary Saturday, Lex was assured to be in bed until at least two, maybe later, depending upon when he went to sleep.

The tap ran hot, then scalding, and it was then that Lian slipped into the full tub. He couldn't help the groan that split his lips, curled up from his throat. It felt too good, all of that heat when he still felt cold, as if his bones had become chilled during that night out on the cross. Maybe he could even imagine the hot water baking off the encrusted sweat and nastiness left upon him, marking him. It was a miracle that Lex had let him into his car, covered in dirt and sweat and bile.

God, he really loved his brother.

He'd sat in Lex's new _Volante_ , the one he'd bought to replace the car that had gone over the bridge, covered in perspiration, and grime, and vomit, and Lex hadn't remarked on it. Then he'd dragged him upstairs and undressed him -- okay, not that there was much left to undress -- and tucked him into bed.

Lex was concerned about him, and always a presence when Lian badly needed him. Even when he'd gone through that period of hard drugs, he'd still managed that more than their father ever had.

Lian would do anything for Lex. He _had_ done anything for Lex. He'd pretended hatred. He'd pushed Lex to do his best even when what he really wanted was another way to piss off Lionel. Lian and Lex. Alexander and Julian. They didn't go together as well as they might have done (sometimes, Lian regretted that his father hadn't just gone ahead and named him Hephaestion, regardless of the implications), but there wasn't any other way for them to properly mingle. Lex and Lian. Julian and Alexander. Always.

And it would really be 'always' the right kind of 'always' once he got out of the tub and talked with Lex. They'd been dancing around the topic for a year or more, but had finally danced too close to keep dancing for much longer.

Thank God. He wasn't sure he could wait much longer before ravishing Lex to the point at which they'd probably break the centuries old beds that were in both of their rooms. With a nearly feral grin, Lian began to scrub himself down hurriedly, the faint scent of coconut soap spilling over his skin. He already smelled better. Felt better. With any luck, there would be breakfast downstairs.

Or lunch, as it _was_ edging up on noon.

There was only the matter of how to get back at Whitney that was unresolved.

If Lian knew Lex, it wouldn't remain that way for long.

Finally clean, he pulled himself up out of the tub, staring down at the dirt-filled bottom with a certain grim satisfaction before he set the tub to drain and began toweling himself off briskly. Eggs would be nice, he decided. Eggs and maybe some bacon and maybe some biscuits and sausage, too. He wondered if he could talk somebody into making apple-cinnamon pancakes for him.

He wondered if Lex would like to have apple-cinnamon pancakes in bed. Or if Lex would freak at the idea of getting sugar on his clothes and his brilliant purple bed sheets. Lian would just have to get powdered sugar sprinkled on top of the apple-cinnamon pancakes, and find out for himself.

A tiny thank you to Lex for what he'd done the night before.

He'd give Lex a much bigger thank you once they'd had a talk, Lian decided with a brilliant grin at himself in the mirror. Yeah, that would be good, wouldn't it? He'd been dreaming of Lex for nearly five years, dreaming of touching his brother's pale, faintly freckled skin, kissing the trails of little creamy spots that he'd seen on Lex's shoulders once until he found the place where they disappeared.

Lex really _shouldn't_ cover up the way that he did. He was fucking beautiful, even without any hair.

Self-consciousness reared its head too often at Lex. The least clothes Lex ever wore was when he pushed one of his long-sleeved shirts up to the elbows on a hot day, and unbuttoned another button on his shirt. Not that that ever stopped him from being a sex fiend and nailing everything that had legs and a vague spark of attraction to him.

It made for a nice mental image while Lian left his bathroom. Maybe Lex had sex while dressed.

Maybe Lex would have sex with _him_ while dressed. Hm. It was an interesting thought.

Then again, Lian _did_ have that addiction to those rarely seen freckles. Maybe Lex would have sex with him naked, too.

If anyone had seen the grin that created, it probably would have blinded them, but instead, he went dancing hurriedly down the stairs.

He wandered past Lex's study -- empty, so Lex was still studying or maybe sleeping -- and into the dining room, towards the kitchen where he could hear noise. Life, the sounds of life, which meant he could tackle the staff and demands that sweets be served to him for breakfast, along with bacon and sausage, and...

And he could see the back of a curling, twisting mane of hair seconds before Lionel twisted to grant him a frown. "Lian, good morning."

"Dad. I wasn't expecting to see you here this morning." So much for his plans for Lex. If he'd seen their dad, he'd be off sulking in a corner and it would take _weeks_ to get things back to the way Lian wanted them to be. He covered a sigh with a yawn and reached up to rub at wet, tousled hair. "I was just about to get some breakfast."

"I take it you missed the homecoming game at your new school, since you're here and seemingly alive." Lionel flipped a section of the newspaper at Lian, watching him with steady eyes.

There was no denying the confusion on Lian's face. "Actually, yes. Lex and I came home together last night." He didn't explain anything more than that, just picked up the paper and began to read, remarkably surprised to see a picture of the guy who'd been in the cornfield the previous evening just below there. "Well. I think that explains a few things," he mumbled under his breath.

"Explains what, Lian? The wholesale slaughter of over four hundred children?" There were wheels grinding in Lionel's head, and real anger in his voice over what Lian was reading about. But it probably had nothing to do with actual concern and shock, and more to do with the drop in productivity that was definitely going to come.

Broad shoulders shrugged in answer. "The quarterback took something of a dislike to me, so I didn't have any real urge to be at the dance." He wasn't going to tell Lionel about the cornfield. "On our way home last night, we saw a guy coming out of a cornfield, though. That guy, I think, actually. We wondered about it, but it wasn't like it was _our_ cornfield, Dad."

Lionel merely reached towards Lian to take the paper from him. "I want you and your brother to stay in the house this weekend. The town is crawling with media. Monday, Lex is going to un-enroll you from the rubble that was previously a high school, and Thomas will be back from China on Tuesday. Understood, Lian?"

The urge to make a face at his father was something that he didn't fight. He just _made_ it, features squashing into a sullen pout. "Sure, Dad. I just wanted to see if I could fit in for a while, but since the vast majority of the high school age kids seem to be dead now, I think I'd probably just stand out a lot."

"None of that, Lian -- now is not the time to make jokes about that," Lionel muttered sharply, and sounded sincerely disappointed with him. "The perpetrator has been arrested, but this area is a disaster zone. I'm sure this county will soon be declared to be in a state of emergency."

Lian managed to keep from saying something particularly pleased about how he really _hoped_ that the quarterback had fried with the rest of them. Instead, he just nodded. "It's just as well Thomas is coming back by Tuesday, then," Clark decided. "Maybe we can finish the rest of the school year in time for me to pick up college during spring semester." Not that he wanted to do that; he didn't want to leave Lex behind, and Lex was in Smallville.

"I think that's pushing it even for you, Lian." Lionel gentled as he gestured for Lian to sit down. "I was worried that you might have gone to that game."

That was all right, then. That was the face Lionel reserved for him, and had never given to Lex. Lian liked being the favorite, most of the time, anyway. "Ah, no." He gave a wry smile for his father as he seated himself. "Like I said, the small town quarterback had sort of gotten his jock strap knotted. His girlfriend seemed a little more taken with me than with him. I didn't figure that was the best way to start off with things here, so I gave the game and the dance a skip."

"Fortuitous for us all," Lionel murmured. "Are you going to remain here...?"

"Yes," Lian told him, giving a decisive nod. He was definitely staying here, definitely staying with _Lex_. "You could have just called to find out if everything was all right, Dad."

"Calling wouldn't have assured me of your continued good health, Lian," Lionel tsked quietly. He punctuated his words with an easy sip of his coffee. "And I wanted to see you again. You seem to be doing well, far from the comfort of Metropolis."

"Metropolis was getting boring. Smallville might be, well, _small_ , but it's also unconquered territory." His father could understand that, surely? "It's interesting to come somewhere everyone doesn't automatically like me. A challenge." The arrival of a young woman with a platter of what _definitely_ looked like most of what he wanted for breakfast was a welcome interruption. "Could I have apple cinnamon pancakes, too?" he asked politely, giving her a brilliant smile. If he couldn't eat them off of Lex, he'd still eat them. "With powdered sugar on top."

Just in case.

The woman nodded and retreated hastily to the kitchen, leaving the two Luthors alone again.

"Your brother's been encouraging your sweet tooth, hasn't he?" Lionel smiled lightly, as he reached for his fork.

"Maybe a little." More like Lex didn't pay any attention to keeping Lian's sweet tooth unsatisfied, unlike Lionel. Still, if it meant that Lionel might feel indulgent towards Lex... Well. Lian could dream. "He's been very busy lately. Taking care of business and the plant, I mean."

"And well he should," Lionel assured. "Have you learned much from watching him?"

Lian couldn't very well admit that he'd learned jack _shit_ , could he? Instead, he gave a brilliant smile and said simply, "Lex is good at _everything_. I wish I could be."

"What do you think of his managerial techniques? This preposterous notion of cutting overhead and not jobs." Lionel waved a hand dismissively.

"If anyone can do it, Lex can. Happy workers will work harder. Isn't that the idea behind it all?" Lian asked, smiling at the maid who brought him his pancakes. Mmm, breakfast looked _delicious_. He wondered where Lex was. "I think it's a good idea, anyway."

"Of course, there's little likelihood that anything will be accomplished at the plant in light of this tragedy, Lian. It hasn't quite sunk in that... a madman could cause so much damage." Lionel pointed to the newspaper for a moment, then gestured to Lian. "Go wake up your brother."

Just like that. Never mind that he was in the middle of breakfast.

Heaving a great sigh, Lian picked up his plates, silverware resting carefully on them, and headed out of the room. Lionel wouldn't say anything because it was obvious that he wanted to discuss business, and that he wanted to discuss it with _Lex_. That meant Lian didn't need to be in the room, and probably wasn't wanted, anyway.

It was funny that Lionel favored Lian so much, when it was clear that his business successor was going to be Lex. Lex had wanted to be a scientist, but as long as Lian could remember, he'd been groomed by Lionel to be a businessman. And Lionel had left Lian alone, letting him decide what he did and did not like to learn. For all of Lionel saying he hoped Lian was learning by watching Lex, it didn't matter.

It wasn't ever going to matter, because Lian was never going to have any part of LuthorCorp. That was all right with him, though, and he hurried up the stairs with plates in his hands. It was easy enough to balance them, to hurry to Lex's room and knock on the door. "Lex?"

"Come in, and get the phone? It's throbbing at me." Lex's voice was sleep-slurred, and muffled beneath a pillow, from the sound of it.

Throbbing at him? That was Lex in full 'I-haven't-slept-at-all' mode, wasn't it? Lian hated to wake him up, but he balanced the plates carefully and opened the door, moving into the dark room. "Lex," he said quietly. "Dad is downstairs. He wants to see you."

"What?" Sheets ruffled, kicked lazily down, and Lex rolled to his feet. "Fuck. What time is it?"

"Nearly noon," Lian told him, offering him the plate with the pancakes. Lex looked rumpled, the imprint of his pillow pressed into one cheek. "You want some? Before you go downstairs, I mean." As if facing Lionel was like facing a dragon, and maybe it was to Lex.

"Shit... yes, just leave them on the bed." Lex was nude, so in the dark his skin was just a faint pale glow before he moved to the chair beside the bed and picked up his robe.

Lian was _highly_ disappointed when he put it on and covered up everything that he wanted to see, touch, taste. "Okay." He settled onto the bed and sat the pancakes down beside himself. "You might want a quick shower, Lex. You haven't slept."

"I haven't? What was I just doing?" Lex rubbed a hand over his scalp, then over his eyes, as if rubbing could wake him up. "And why the fuck is Father here on a Saturday morning?"

The expression on Lian's face announced that Lex wasn't fooling him. "You were probably asleep all of ten minutes. Dad is here to check on us. Seems there was some major problem at that little dance last night. The vast majority of the high school got fried by somebody they'd hung up on that cross twelve years ago."

"Christ..." Lex had a knee-jerk look of sympathy and shock that Lian hadn't had. That Lionel probably hadn't had. "Is this some kind of joke, Lian?" Lex asked as he headed into his bathroom, and left the door open. "Don't fuck with me this early in the morning."

"If it's a joke, Dad's had a copy of the Planet printed up specially with the picture of some guy who wandered through that field last night, Lex. Just at a guess, I'd say it's probably the truth. You're going to have a fuck of a time at the plant."

"Jesus, all of those kids..." Lex dropped his robe on the floor of the bathroom, and stepped into the shower; he left the door open, and called to Lian, "Grab my cell off the table, Lian, and put it on the shelf here. The plant has got to go on liberal leave immediately, and I'll have Sullivan's neck if he hasn't already... oh, _shit_."

"I swear I didn't have a clue, Lex," Lian promised him, reaching for the phone and chomping down a bite of sausage. "You want me to call in for you?" He knew Lex would say no, but he'd have to offer. "Hey, Sullivan. Chloe Sullivan's dad?" He paused once he'd reached to place the phone where Lex wanted it. "If she was at that dance last night, he might not have, Lex."

"I know, I know, I just realized that. Shit, shit..." The pounding of the shower's spray drowned out the rest of Lex's curses.

What Lex _probably_ ought to be shitting himself over was the possibility that their father had already made the appropriate calls and was going to rake him over the coals. Well, no, Lian decided. Dad wouldn't do that. He'd wait for _Lex_ to make the calls and _then_ he'd bless him out about it. That was the way things were between Lex and Lionel. "Can I do anything to help?" It was an honest offer. Lex was upset, and Lian didn't like to see it.

"Look shocked and horrified if, no, _when_ the media arrives looking for a reaction," Lex called to him from the shower.

"Kinda hard to do when they had me strung up on a _cross_ last night, Lex. Dad's already asked why I wasn't at that stupid dance. What do I do when _they_ ask me?" He didn't think Lex would hear him muttering the way he was, not over the shower, but he sighed. He'd come up with a good reason. He'd look regretful. He didn't really give much of a shit, though.

"Just don't tell them the truth. That stone, Lian -- it's amazing, but I'll tell you about it later..." Scientific enthusiasm tamped down by shock and the knowledge that he had to get moving. Lex probably wouldn't even stop moving long enough to touch the plate he'd brought him up.

Might as well eat some of it himself, then, Lian decided, stopping in his steady devouring of eggs and sausage and bacon and diving into the pancakes. "You'll have to tell me when you get done." That would be late, late, and it completely ruined the thought of the progress he'd made. Dammit.

"I will..." The water cut off, and Lex stepped out onto the tile, shivering visibly.

Lian could hear him dialing his cell. Lex was standing naked in his bathroom, with the door open, on his cell phone. It was like rolling out a buffet of steaks for Lian, and then telling him he'd have to wait until after they'd cooled for him to touch.

Lian had never been very good at waiting, and he'd _never_ burned his tongue. "Fuck, Lex." It was a barely breathed phrase, and he managed to keep from saying anything more by stuffing a large bite of pancake into his mouth.

There were words coming out of Lex's mouth, serious, firm words, and they all went in one of Lian's ears and out of the other one. His brother propped one foot up on the toilet seat, and was meticulously drying his legs.

If there was a God in Heaven, he _really_ loved Julian Alastair Luthor. Really, REALLY loved him, because he could see, well. EVERYTHING. Oh, _everything_ , and he didn't _care_ if their father was downstairs, he wanted to walk over and drop to his knees and worship every hairless inch of his brother's skin.

And even better, Lex wasn't succumbing to a fit of paranoia. Lex was busy, so Lex buffed himself dry without humility, then tossed his towel over the rack and pulled his robe back on, still on the phone. Something about a media statement.

Ha. Media statement. Lian knew that there was no way he could stand up to give ANYTHING in the next half hour because he was so fucking _hard_. If he stood up, his cock would probably bounce off of his belly it lusted after Lex so badly. Still, he kept quiet as Lex came back into the bedroom and began to search out clothing -- black and black and deep, dark purple. That was his brother. Walking bruise.

Lex finally hung up, and put the phone only temporarily on the table. "Lian, go into my fridge and grab me something that isn't water. I don't have time for breakfast, I have to get to the plant. Dear old Dad can just piss off..."

Oh, yeah, that was one of MANY things Lian loved about Lex. He got up and scrounged around until he found a bottle of juice, handing it over as Lex shimmied his way into underwear that Lian knew couldn't feel half as good as Lex's skin. "You want something in that?"

"Meth?" Lex asked flippantly, even as he reached for the bottle and took a swig. "Fuck, I didn't sleep, I napped..."

"I was thinking maybe vodka, actually, but I can try for something a little harder if you think you'll need it to stay awake. You know. Vivarin or something." That was teasing, because it would do Lex almost as much good as it would do Lian -- absolutely none. "You need to eat."

"I'm planning on eating on the way to the plant. And driving over another bridge," he half-joked as he slipped a deep purple shirt on.

"Can I go with you?" It wasn't so much pleading as a demand. "I'll probably be expected since I started school yesterday, Lex."

"Bring the pancakes," Lex gestured, slipping a tie around his neck, and expertly fastening it in place.

Luckily, at least half of the pancakes remained. "Sure, Lex. You sure you don't want me to go down and get you some fresh ones?" Yeah, and maybe some more bacon. Lian _loved_ bacon.

"Without powdered sugar. I can smell it off of you from over here, Lian." Lex tugged his pants on, and fumbled with his belt. That intensified his sharp frown. "Tell me, do I look as dead as I feel?"

"You look like a walking bruise," Lian answered fairly cheerfully. It was the very first thought he'd had, and it was still pretty much true. Still, the whole I-didn't-sleep-last-night vibe would be great for the cameras. "The reporters will love it."

Lex arched an eyebrow at that, but didn't disagree when he moved to slip shoes on and fetch his coat. "Thankfully you're in your ever present all-American boy colors. I'll be down in a minute."

"I'll go get you some more pancakes," Lian announced, and moved quickly enough to take both of the plates back down to the kitchen. He thought about speeding down the stairs, but decided not to. Dad would just lecture him, and Lex would probably have all sorts of things to say about frightening off the help.

To get down to the kitchen, he had to pass through the dining room, where his father still sat, ruminating over a cup of coffee. "Lian, did you get your brother up yet?"

"Yes, Dad." The urge to roll his eyes wasn't resisted. "He's getting dressed and getting ready to go to the plant. I'm going to just run back and see if there's any more breakfast..."

"I'm sure there is. The way you eat, they're probably quickly adjusting to cooking for Hannibal's army..." Lionel hardly looked up at him, but he was smirking to himself. "Be good, son. I'll be watching you both."

It figured that Lionel would know what they were doing before they knew, themselves. "Sure thing, Dad. Lex looks... Well, it'll definitely be a point in his favor. He probably got caught up in reading something last night, so. You know Lex."

"Yes, I do. I wonder what it could've been that he was reading at such a _late_ hour in his lab? He really ought not to keep that door locked," Lionel smiled. "It'll make people suspicious."

Meaning that Lionel was suspicious. It sent a tingle of nervous sickness through Lian that he wouldn't have recognized before that day he'd stepped into the Beanery, the previous night spent upon the cross. "Probably another treatise on that cell stuff he's so fascinated by," Lian shrugged, moving towards the kitchen. "He's been concentrating on the crap factory, so he's probably behind."

"Of course, of course." Of course Lionel was grinning behind his coffee cup as he waved Lian off to get pancakes for the drive.

God, why did it make him so nervous when his father smiled? He wondered if it made Lex nervous, and figured it was probably actually worse for Lex than it was for him. At least Lian could be pretty sure that Lionel wasn't plotting his immediate downfall.

Well. Yeah. Pretty sure.

It took him a few minutes to beg pancakes from the cook, and by the time he made it back to the foyer with a container holding them and a small dab of apple butter, Lex was coming down the stairs. "Ready? I have your pancakes."

"Thanks. We're riding in the Porsche, so I hope you don't mind the lack of headroom." Lex brushed past him, scrolling through his phone's address book.

"I could drive," Lian volunteered. Much more headroom in his Mustang. "Then you could eat and talk while you ride." Lex forgot food and everything else important when he was involved in something. The only thing he seemed to need was a great deal of liquor.

His brother was going to pickle himself before he hit thirty.

Lex reached for the container of pancakes, and nodded. "You can drive." He was already ragged, before they even got there. So Lian had met someone in the field -- that man or boy _Lex_ had seen the day of the meteor crash. And that man had somehow electrocuted the better part of a high school. An entire homecoming dance.

Lex's acquiescence obviously pleased Lian because he headed for the garage and his Mustang at a run, leaving Lex behind with his pancakes to wait on the front steps. Enthusiasm was nice. That bubble butt was nice, too.

Lex was not going to regret thinking about it, either.

Their cat and mouse game was going to come to an end. He'd already decided that, but first Lian's little fit of moodiness had delayed him, and then Lian being crucified. And now there was a horror that he couldn't quite wrap his mind around even if he was going to have to pretend to when he expressed sympathy for grieving employees, declared liberal leave, and whatever it would take to repair and clean up the high school.

The Mustang roared up to the steps, Lian throwing open the passenger side door for him. "Get in," he ordered, making Lex bristle slightly. "I promise I'll even keep to the speed limit so you'll have time to finish your pancakes."

"How considerate." Lex slid into the passenger seat a little tensely, and closed the door after him. But he got his when he drawled, "Onward, driver."

"It gives you some kind of weird, perverse pleasure to say that to me, doesn't it?" Lian asked him dryly, revving the engine and sending the car hurtling down the driveway. "I didn't think to get you any coffee."

"I'll manage. I've been drinking it all night." Lex opened the container, and picked up the fork that was laid atop the pancakes. He started to eat right away, showing his ravishing hunger that hadn't seemed to be there until the opportunity was presented to him to eat. "That stone is first of all highly radioactive."

"Well, that's probably not a good sign," Lian decided, shivering slightly. "I assume that's why it makes me sick?"

"Interestingly enough, I felt no sickness while handling it. Have any ideas why you feel sick, and I don't? Why no one else does, Lian?" Lex had ideas, but when he phrased things that way, it was pretty clear he wasn't going to share what his ideas were.

"No," Lian told him, brows knitting together. They were flying down the road despite Lian's promise that he would drive slowly. The mention of the necklace, the radioactivity, made him nervous. "I mean, what could it be? And why would it just affect me?"

"I don't know." Lex's mouth thinned out between bites and regular swallows. He was probably barely tasting those delicious pancakes; it was almost a waste. "You know I perform tests on myself, don't you?"

"You shouldn't do that, Lex. It's not good for you, we've talked about it before." They'd talked about the drugs, too, and the speeds at which Lex drove. Lian knew that _he_ couldn't be hurt, not as badly as Lex could, but it made him nervous when Lex did things to _himself_.

"Be quiet -- I'm trying to make a point. I should have fucking track marks like a heroine addict from all of the blood I've taken out of myself, and all of the injections I've done, but I don't. Have I mentioned that my blood, my very DNA is ever so slightly... _strange_?"

"Strange _how_?" It wouldn't surprise Lian. After all, _he_ was different. Lex had always healed fast, and he was bald after the meteor shower. "Do you think it was what happened? When we were kids?"

"With absolute certainty." Lex was looking forwards, out of the window, anywhere but Lian as he ate. "I want to test you tonight. But Father definitely knows what's going on. I feel it in my gut."

He heard the deep breath his baby brother pulled in, held for just a moment before he let it go. "Lex?" It was more a question than anything else. The clench of his jaw was undeniable. "Would it be really un-Luthor of me to tell you that scares the fuck out of me?" It _did_. It _did_ , because he'd never been so sick, never felt so terrible. He didn't ever want to feel that way again, even if it was a controlled experiment.

"Lian... right now, the fact that I'm talking to you without a fit of paranoia is pretty un-Luthorlike. I'm sure we'll come to our senses." Lex's cool eyes darted, catching the line of Lian's flexing jaw. And oddly, he was soothed to see that he wasn't alone in being stressed by it.

"What if it's something really bad? Like, unavoidable bad? God. Who knows what that fucking thing is, and I'll bet anything Lana's dead." They'd never know, not unless they went to visit their father's ex-mistress, and fuck only knows what _she'd_ tell them. Would it be the truth, or something that'd been fed to her to wind its way back to them?

"The homecoming court was the first to go," Lex grimaced. "So I'd say she's dead."

"So much for the proverbial prom queen," Lian answered, nose wrinkling up slightly. "At least the world is lacking a little more pink today. Do you have any idea how many others yet, Lex?" He assumed that the pause between Lex's bath and fetching pancakes had probably gotten some answers for Lex if not for Lian.

"Some students actually got out of the back doors and escaped." Lex had enough hesitance in his voice that Lian was glad he was driving instead of Lex. "Some were crushed in the panic. Anyone milling around outside probably escaped. But the... the body count is still unsure. Forensics specialists from Metropolis arrived early this morning..."

"Bet the smell is pretty atrocious," Lian muttered. "We don't have to actually go there or anything, right?" Green eyes darted in Lex's direction.

"It's a health hazard, Lian. No." Lex ate a few more bites of pancake, then laid his fork carefully back in the container. Lian was rolling down familiar roads, so it was time to ready himself. "Ease up on the gas."

"I take it they're expecting us fifteen minutes ago yesterday," Lian said, but he took his foot off obediently enough. It wasn't time to irritate Lex right now, not when he was concentrating so hard.

Lex's fingers tugged at his tie, and his posture was steadily turning firmer. "They are, but now isn't the time to roll up recklessly."

"Right. If you'd told me to look responsible, I'd have brought Dad's car." Still sporty, but at least it was black, not like Lex's preference for silver and shiny blue, or his own for primary colors. Lian took a deep breath, expression turning deeply solemn with slow motions. "I'm with you, Lex. We'll face them, and it will all be okay."

"For you and I, Lian, sure, but for the workers, this town?" Lex bent and slipped the container out of sight as they neared the plant. So many goddamned media trucks, and a press of reporters who'd probably been driven away from the high school by police... "Who knows?"

* * *

"Son. It's good to see that you're home." Lionel held a snifter in one hand, an open book in another. It was a pose, to be sure, but probably one he'd spent no more than five minutes composing. Somehow, Lionel always knew when Lex was within range of him. "The circus has obviously found its ringmaster. You seemed quite solemn just now." His hand waved towards the large television in one corner. "I assume that Lian has gone upstairs for a while?" There had been a nigh on torrential downpour of rain, leaving both of the Luthor children standing drenched upon a wide dais. It had been dramatic and beautiful, Lian's curls plastered to his face, the rain spilling down Lex's cheeks as though they were tears.

Lionel himself could not have planned that shower any better.

"Yes. You said you wanted to talk with me?" Lex asked slowly. He looked solemn. He felt solemn and exhausted, wet and cold from standing out on the fucking rain without an awning over them. The towel in his hands was sopping, but at least his head and face were dry, even if his clothes weren't.

"Yes. I thought perhaps it was time that you learned of your legacy, Lex. Of the thing I have gained you, the power which it will bring you." Lionel was smiling at him, but there was the strangest little twitch behind it, as if there was some terrible secret beyond those words.

Lionel loved to play those games when Lex was on his last, last legs. "Is there a meaning behind your riddles, Dad?"

"Meaning, essence, significance. A great deal, actually, Lex. Have a seat." One hand waved expansively. "And make sure the door is shut. I don't want anyone to hear this outside of you and me."

Words given to no doubt smother meaning over whatever shit Lionel was going to try to feed Lex. But he cast his father a pained look, then moved to check that the door was closed. Then he sat down, wetly, in one of the leather chairs he preferred. "So important that it couldn't wait?"

"So important that it cannot wait. Not another day, Lex. You're going to have to do what I can't bring myself to do. It's your destiny," Lionel assured him, and if Lex didn't _know_ better, didn't _know_ that his father had a soul made of fiery diamond, nothing soft about it, it would almost appear that Lionel regretted what he was going to say. "I'm going to tell you about that _day_. The day you lost your hair. The day we gained Julian."

"Funny, I thought I'd already heard about that." Lex laid his hands on the arms of the chair, forcing himself to look only vaguely interested at his father. "Go on."

"I told you not to go out into that cornfield, Lex. It was entirely your fault," Lionel told him softly. "Your fault that you lost all of that beautiful, bright red hair. Your fault that I found Lian, and the ship in which he arrived. If he had been ten feet closer, he would have killed you instead of dosing you with so much radiation that you lost your hair."

Lex's mind caught at the word 'radiation', but his mouth spouted out, " _Ship_?"

"It's in the vault in my office," Lionel told him smoothly. "The one that no one is allowed to see. More of a _pod_ than a ship, I suppose you could say, and he crawled out of it naked, Lex. A little alien boy who looked so normal that it didn't seem possible. Beautiful and healthy, and he climbed up out of that hole to stroke your head, and I knew I had found something impossible. Something _incredible_."

"My God." Lex swallowed, and told himself... told himself to not believe, to not listen, but it was there. And it was right. It worked. It explained why he was so fucked up, and Lian was perfect. Unharmable. Strong, fast... "My god, Father, you.... you took him _home_ with us?"

"I thought he would make an excellent sort of study, Lex. Your mother, though..." Lionel frowned. "Your mother fell in love with him at first sight. She had wanted another child for a very long time, and Lian seemed to her like a gift from the skies. I couldn't bring myself to have him cut open when she wanted him so badly, and by the time she died..." It was obvious that Lionel hadn't been able to do it then, either. "But you can do what I couldn't, Lex. You can study him. You can learn the necessary things. I can show you the things I've found, you can search the field where he fell..."

Lionel wanted Lex to do his dirty work. To sort through the shards of his own humanity and find a good, sharp, paranoid edge, and cut open his own brother. His hated, loved, cherished, envied little brother. Lex closed his eyes tightly, swallowed. "Jesus. You never thought to tell me before?"

"It wasn't necessary before, Lex. You didn't need to know, not yet, just needed to cultivate the lack of respect between you. The hatred. The emotions that would make it possible. It wouldn't have been when you were younger, when you were teaching him to read, to drive. Oh, I know you taught him when he was eleven, or what passed for it with Julian." Lionel's gaze was intense, hard. "You can do what I cannot, Lex. You can _gain_ from him."

"I need... to think," Lex said, whispered, in shock. "He... I _can_ gain from him, I just... need to mourn what wasn't and hasn't ever been, before..."

"I knew you were the man for the job, Lex. I knew you could do what I couldn't." And oh, his father sounded so fucking _proud_ of him, proud because he wanted Lex to cut Lian into pieces. Vivid memories of science class, foetal pigs, needles placed precisely in the skull of a frog to destroy its nervous system before cutting it open so that its insides would still be throbbing, beating with _life_ beneath Lex's knife.

Lian, green eyes spilling over with tears, and the _stone_ , the fucking _stone_ against him, making him weak enough, vulnerable enough, for Lex to slice him open and watch his insides work.

Even better, that tiny stone could be refined into needles, and then Lian would be just like the frog, easy to vivisect and take intricate notes on, easy to... Nausea roiled up, and Lex rose to his feet faintly unsteady. "You're right -- I can... do what you can't," he murmured flatly.

"That's my boy." So much pleasure from Lionel, God, their _father_. His, and Lian's, and yet he could suggest all of the things he'd just said.

"Hey, Lex?" The door was open, and Lian was framed in it, smiling as though the sun came out from behind the clouds every time he saw his brother. "Want to fence later? I don't mean to interrupt your meeting with Dad, just..."

Lex snorted, gesturing to his own wet clothes, "Yeah, just give me a chance to get properly dry. I'll meet you in the ballroom, all right?"

He couldn't do it. Lionel had seriously misjudged his character, revealed himself to be a monster. How could their _father_ , cruel and sick as he'd occasionally been, expect Lex to just follow in his footsteps? How could he expect Lex to carve up his fucking _baby brother_? Even if Lex did want to screw him, that just made things more intimate, not less. There was no question that someone was going to have to go. Someone was going to have to die for Lian's secret.

It just wasn't going to be Lian.

"I'll be there in a minute, Lian. Let me just finish up with Dad here..." He turned his back to Lian, tugging at his tie to make it easier when he went upstairs to actually change.

A wave of one wide hand said it was okay, and Lian stepped out, shutting the door behind him.

"Mimicry. Amazing that he's so good at it," Lionel said softly. "Or perhaps I should say _it_ is so very good at it. I've always wondered which was more accurate."

"He's always struck me as male enough... though who knows," Lex murmured, sounding contemplative as he walked towards the sidebar, still dripping wet, and poured himself a small glass of brandy. "Is there anything else I should know that _you_ know, before I try to undertake this?"

"Aside from the strength? The speed? He wasn't like that as a child. It's developed as he's aged, Lex, and I'm not entirely certain that you'll be able to get inside of him and find out what's there. I can't guarantee that x-rays will work, that you'll get past his skin." Lionel seemed thoughtful. "I think perhaps you will have more luck with the ship than I have. It's more... your sort of thing."

Scientific. Too complicated for Lionel to deal with personally, too important for him to hire someone to investigate. Not without losing Lian to the government, and Lex knew that Lionel wouldn't give up a resource so easily.

"Of course. I've suspected..." He swallowed his shot of liquor. "Well. Come down to my lab in the basement, say... two a.m.?"

"That's perfect, Lex." Yes, perfect, and he could _see_ the excitement, the greed, in Lionel's face. The desire to watch as Lex hurt Lian, pulled him apart, tried to see what made him tick. Lex had always wanted approval from his father, but... but not from this _thing_ , this creature masquerading as human. If anything, Lian was the more natural of the two, a terrifying thought considering that Lex had considered them near-clones of one another only days ago. "I assume you'll have some way of getting him to agree." Ah, yes, and it was obvious then that Lionel knew of his lust, as well.

"Of course." Lex kept his tone level and flippant, and then added in a sharper way, "I wish you had told me sooner -- I wouldn't have brought him to the conference with me. I would've claimed him among the missing students."

"There are other ways," Lionel said simply. "No one will ever know he's gone. We can pay off Kensington by offering him his weight in... _companions_. I've found a pair of twins for him that will keep him well occupied. No one will ever know, Lex."

"Of course not." Lex swallowed down disgust as he set down his glass, and turned to head for the door. "I probably won't see you until two. It will take that long to secure him."

"I'm proud of you, son." And the disturbing thing was that Lionel _was_ proud of him in some bizarre, oblique way, proud he'd wiped out Lex's humanity as much as his own. Suddenly, things made sense that never had before, the urging to be the best in this science application or that, the _demand_ that Lex come home, do as he was told instead of going further.

Lionel couldn't bear to wait any longer.

The praise tasted bitter, and Lex could only nod solemnly to his father's words. "Thanks." Then he hauled the door open, and slipped out into the hallway.

Thanks for nothing at all. And thanks for _almost_ succeeding in what he'd been trying to do.

God. How could Lex go in and tell Lian any of that? Would Lian even BELIEVE him? Maybe, maybe not. And what the hell was that stone? The only option remaining was to ask their father's whore.

They'd just have to ask. But only after Lex had gotten into dry clothes, and warmed up a little. There would be no fencing that afternoon.

He really hoped that Lionel wouldn't want to watch them. Maybe he could excuse them both, get them out of the house for a while under the pretext of cornering Lian. Maybe he could take Lian upstairs and Lionel would assume he was getting his baby brother out from under his skin.

A last day while he steeled his resolve. He wouldn't have to explain that to his father, either; he'd just _do_ it. Take Lian out to Smallville to talk with Lionel's bitch, and then drive back home. But Lex comforted himself that he did have a plan. Because three people would enter that lab, and the next morning, only two would leave.

And Lionel was not going to be one of the two.

"Hey, Lex!" Lian, his voice carrying as he rushed up the stairs in a breeze to stand beside Lex. "I thought we were going to fence?" So fucking _eager_. Had that eagerness been there before Lex had come to Smallville? Maybe. Possibly. Maybe more now that they were looking at one another instead of sneaking glimpses.

"I'm sopping wet, Lian, unbelievably cold, and tired. No. Come upstairs, though," Lex drawled as he started towards the stairs.

That seemed to pique Lian's curiosity, still-damp curls tumbling into his face. "Upstairs?" He nearly purred into Lex's ear, close to him. "Can I watch you this time...? Lex?"

"You can watch." It took all of the strength Lex could muster to officially offer that to his brother. That permission. "But we need to talk."

"Yeah," Lian agreed, a hand lingering momentarily against Lex's hip, carefully placed. "Probably. I don't want to talk, Lex. Can't we talk later?"

"No, Lian -- I need to talk with you before..." He twisted to look over his wet shoulder at his brother, then looked to the hand that had ghosted onto his hip. "Before the inevitable."

"So you admit it," Lian murmured, expression lighting up the way it had on Christmas morning when he was small. "That it's inevitable, I mean. It has been, you know. Since we were young. We're destined to be something great, Lex. I _know_ it."

"You're right." His tight-lipped expression should have been a sign to Lian that something was up, but Lex didn't say more than that as he reached the top of the stairs, and then moved down the long hallway towards his bedroom.

"Is Dad gone?" It seemed a pointed question. "I mean, if we're going to... If things are reaching their fated conclusion. I'm not too sure Dad would understand, Lex."

"Dad's going to be around for a little while longer..." Lex rubbed a hand tiredly over his scalp, and jerked open his bedroom door. "Go on, get in, Lian."

A startled jade look darted his way before Lian shifted, shaking his head slightly and preceding Lex into the room. "Maybe you should rest for a while, Lex. I can wait," he said with a tilt of his head. He didn't want to wait. It was obvious that he didn't want to wait, but he _would_.

Lex didn't answer him immediately. He merely closed the door behind him, and then followed a few paces after Lian, starting to take off his wet shirt. "Father wants me to kill you."

"...what?" The question was weak, sounding the way Lian had that day in the Beanery. "No. Why..." A faint shake of Lian's head. "Lex, I..." Lian couldn't believe it, and the way he looked at Lex was confused, hurt, as if Lex might be trying to push him away or do something that he didn't understand. "He wouldn't. You wouldn't. Even. I. Lex?"

"Christ... of course he wouldn't tell you..." Lex swallowed, and threw his damp shirt at a chair. "He wants me to kill and dissect you, Lian, because you're not from this planet, and I can't, I fucking can't. You're my brother, you're so much to me..."

"You're lying." Or maybe he wasn't, but it was making Lian's head spin. "Tell me that you're lying, Lex." He'd beg if he had to. "I'm not. I'm not. I'm just. I'm like _you_. I'm just different like _you_ , Lex." That seemed important to Lian. "I'll ask Dad. I'll, I'll say that it was something I heard in town, or..."

"The hell you will," Lex snapped tightly. "You think he won't know I'm not playing along with his game, Lian? You think he won't hurt you if I won't?"

The faint tremor of Lian's mouth, the way his breath seemed to be held, the stiffness in his frame, was achingly visible. "You won't. You won't." He didn't seem capable of doing much more than standing there and shaking. "I'm not like you."

"But you are like me." Lex swallowed down his own fear and rage and anger, moving closer to Lian to grab his shoulders. "We're Luthors, you're my brother... We're both freaks, even if we're different brands of them."

"He didn't mean it, Lex. He can't mean it. Why would he think that I. That I'm." Lian swallowed hard, pulling himself under control slowly. Yes, they were alike. They were brothers. They _were_ Luthors. "You aren't going to do it."

"If I were going to, I wouldn't have told you what he wanted." How could Lian even _think_ that he might do it, might... but it had passed through Lex's head, so righteous anger refused to come to the fore. Lex had nothing to feel righteous about. He rubbed his hands over Lian's shoulders through the fabric of his shirt. "He meant it, Lian, but I'm not about to hurt you."

A sweep of black lashes hid Lian's eyes from him a moment before the muscles beneath Lex's hands relaxed slowly. "So. He wouldn't say something like that without proof." His tongue darted out slowly, moistening his full lips. "What are we going to do, Lex?" We. An assumption. The right assumption, but God, Lex wasn't that predictable, was he? How did they go from being nearly enemies to being this? He didn't know.

"We..." Lex's hands rubbed at now loose muscles. "We are going to find out what that stone is. And we have an appointment with Dad in my lab at two a.m." The grim reality was fast becoming that he'd have to kill Lionel. It was a choice between Lian and Lionel, and he shouldn't have been given that choice.

Lian gave a shaky nod, shivering slightly despite his obvious relaxation. "Okay. All right. I'll. Whatever you tell me I have to do, Lex, I'll do it," he told his brother, leaning to whisper it close to his ear. It was strained, aching slightly.

"You know why I've made this decision, don't you?" Lex asked him. The whisper was so close, just a turn of his head, and words would start to become deeds.

Lian's head shook slowly, a negative. It wasn't, though, because words passed Lian's lips slowly. "You want me," he said thickly, slowly.

"Because as much as we've clashed... we work well together. When you're not trying to drive me mad." Lex dragged a hand up to cup Lian's chin, and leaned in close enough to kiss him. But not yet.

"Lex." His name misted over his own lips, Lian so close that he could almost taste him. "It's more than just want for me. You're mine. You're my _destiny_."

"We don't really have much time to linger, Lian," Lex warned, breathed it against his brother's lips before he followed the path of his breath, and pressed his mouth to Lian's bottom lip.

Lian wanted to ask if they had time, any time, but instead he kissed Lex almost desperately, forgoing finesse for raw passion, for pulling Lex close. It didn't matter in that moment that he was Lex's brother. Nothing mattered but Lex, the taste and touch of him, vague hints of scotch hidden in his mouth.

"Christ." Lex broke the lock for just a moment, just enough to exhale his surprise before he surged against Lian, meshing them closer. Body to body, and it didn't matter that Lex's pants were wet and his chest was damp, and that he was tired, almost shaking with exhaustion and adrenaline. It didn't matter anymore, because Lian was passion and want personified, past desire, past... Past common sense.

"You need to get warm." Needed to get warm, yes, and Lian's hands _were_ warming him, pulling his clothes off, baring him with slow, careful motions. "You need to rest. You haven't done anything more than nap. I'll watch over you, Lex..."

He didn't want to be watched over, he wanted to fuck, to feel those hands that so many other had gotten the chance to feel, to find out where the hell that stone came from, where it had been found... A rush of things, and Lex half-helped Lian undress him, and half-hindered him when he wrapped arms around him and started to kiss at his beautiful golden neck.

"Yeah. Oh. Lex. That feels so..." Lian's breath was ragged, the hard length of him pressed tightly to Lex so that there was a firm hardness pushing against his belly. "Jesus. Fuck. Lex. You need to rest, but I..." Lian couldn't resist him, and Lex found himself naked and on the bed so fast that it made his head swim.

He started to laugh quietly, nervousness and fear mingling in arousal, bubbling up into hysteria as he wrapped his arms tighter around Lian. "Fuck me, Christ, just fuck me, Lian, fuck me and then I'll rest and we'll figure it all out..."

Lian was already pressing down to him, pushing against him, tearing his own shirt off of his shoulders. It didn't matter that it had probably cost more than most residents of Smallville made in a week, or even two. He didn't care. "God, fuck, _Lex_." Fucking Lex. Shoving against him, pushing him down, nailing him to the fucking _mattress_. It wasn't just a wet dream, it was Lian's dream, and it had been for years. "Fuck!"

"I hope so," Lex laughed tensely. His pants were gone, which gave him free reign to wrap one leg around Lian's hips trying to line their hips up to rub and scrape pleasure from his brother.

There was no search for lube, no frantic scramble for _more_ , no matter how much Lian wanted it. For now, the steady bumping grind of cock to cock would be enough, his fingers reaching behind to dig into the muscle of Lex's ass and pull him close, hard. "Mine..." His, _his_ , and Lian's fingers were sliding back, one probing at Lex, another giving pressure just behind his balls.

Fuck, Lian's hands were strong, clutching at him with force that was absolutely going to bruise him. Hell, the underside of his cock was probably going to bruise, but Lex didn't care as he arched up again Lian, panting with incoherent need as he kissed him, kissed his mouth, his neck, his smooth jaw. "You've always had me under your thumb, might as well make it official..."

God, fuck, yes, under his thumb, and a slight pressure slipped a finger into Lex so that Lian could have him even as they rocked frantically, seeking out the pleasure that Lian wouldn't be denied. "Want you. Love you. _Mine_..."

Want, without question; love, perhaps on their own twisted way; ownership, without doubt. Lex jerked, groaning when he twisted his hips frantically to rock between fingers and cock, hard muscles and deft digits working him towards the edge of need. "Yes, Christ, yes Lian, mine, yours."

Bruising, yes, Lex was, but the frantic motions didn't stop. They were joined by quiet, desperate whines, Lian panting above him. "Jesus. Close. I want. Oh, Lex, I want...!"

"Come on," Lex goaded at his brother. An arm around Lian's neck, the other scrabbling desperately at his back as he jerked and pressed and rolled closer to the edge, fingers digging in as he hit the stone wall of pleasure and strained for better purchase to thrust against.

With a frantic groan, Lian slipped his dry finger in deeper, wriggling it as his second hand held him up, kept him from crushing his brother. "Fuck. Fuck!" Whimpered, so close, so _close_. This was better than dreams, better than jerking off, and there would be time later for something with a little more style and polish. For now, he just wanted to see Lex's face when he came, and spill all over his tight belly.

Lex closed his eyes tightly for a few moments, gasping sharply and looking at Lian's sharp eyes when he rocked and jerked against Lian. Coming, he was coming, and came against his brother's stomach and his own chest, and when he sagged back, still panting, it was to further impale himself on Lian's one finger. "Fucking god, oh fuck..."

"Yeah. Yeah. Unh!" The slick of Lex's pleasure made it that much easier to slide against him, and combined with the faint twinges of muscles contracting around his finger, it was enough to make Lian follow after him short seconds later. It felt too good, too much, and he wanted to scream his pleasure to the world.

Even if he didn't, Lionel probably heard their lesser cries. Knew what they were doing, even if he didn't know Lex's whys, and thinking that Lionel was sitting somewhere in the house, smug with glee that all the pieces had fall so smoothly into place.

Nausea and good sex shouldn't mix like that.

"Christ, Lian..." he panted roughly. "Christ."

"You're so beautiful, Lex," Lian whispered to him a little incoherently. "You're so beautiful. I fucking... You're everything. Oh, you're everything, Lex."

"Everything," Lex echoed softly. "That's why I can't hurt you. Because you are such a part of my life that I could never..." God, and they were still naked. He still had a finger up his ass, semen on his stomach and abdomen, his brother's softening cock against his own.

"Rest now," Lian told him, a hand stroking down his sides easily, finger reluctantly sliding loose so Lian's palm could press against Lex's hip. "Sleep a while, Lex. I'll watch over you," he murmured. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"This would be a great way to die," Lex smirked ever so faintly. His eyes slipped closed, relaxed in pleasure. "We... you and I, Lian, are currently the epitome of debauched. It feels great."

"We're brothers, all right. There's never going to be any denying that, Lex. Not by you or by me. I hope we're always this debauched," Lian whispered, sliding to the side to hold him close. The last low sound Lex heard was Lian humming softly near his ear.

* * *

The lab was quiet except for Lian's faintly struggled breathing, and the tugging of his arms on the make-shift chains that held him to one of the tabletops.

Lex grimaced, and looked towards the door with expectant eyes.

"Lex." The whimper sounded pained, horrified, just as the door came open. "Lex, what's going on? What are you doing?"

"Ahh, I see that you've brought your brother as we agreed." Lionel sounded extraordinarily pleased.

Lex just gave a tight jerk of his head, and moved towards the opposite table that was strewn with paperwork. "Of course -- did you suspect I wouldn't?"

"I had wondered," their father admitted, watching as Lian twisted, mouth trembling. "You're unpredictable sometimes, Lex."

"Dad, make him let me go. Make him. Please..."

"There's duct-tape beside him on the counter, Father. If you'd do the honors. He's been sleeping until just recently," Lex drawled distractedly, turning back around with a clean notebook and a tray of scalpels.

"Really, Lex..." Lionel protested lightly over the sound of Lian's pleading. "I'm not at all sure that I wish to get that close to him."

"...Daddy?" It wasn't pleasant to see the way Lian's mouth tightened, his eyes glistened. Maybe he'd still believed in some small way that Lionel wouldn't betray him, wouldn't want Lex to cut Lian open.

"He can't break free," Lex assured as he circled behind Lionel, and reached past him for the tape. "Do you think I'm that foolish?"

"What did I do?" It was obvious from the way that tears tracked down Lian's cheeks that he was vastly unhappy. "I didn't do anything to deserve this. Dad. _Daddy_..."

"All right," Lionel decided, holding out a hand for the duct tape. "If he's so firmly bound, then."

He was handed it, and Lex lingered just behind him, watching. One hand fell to the tray of scalpels that he was carrying, picking one up deftly. "I'd like to start this with a minimum of screaming."

"Please, Daddy, no." It was a whisper, defeated and soft as Lionel came closer to him, tugging loose a strip of the duct tape.

"Don't worry, Father. He's been weakened more than sufficiently. Even his death throes won't have the power to let him escape those bonds." Lex moved close again, and laid the scalpel on the table just out of Lian's reach.

"I never did anything to desermmmm..." Lionel's hands tenderly placed the strip of duct tape, pressing it over Lian's mouth.

"There. It's so much better when you're quiet, Lian. Lex won't hurt you very badly..." Christ, Lionel was almost _purring_.

"I'd give you the honor of the first cut, but..." Lex picked up the scalpel and laid fingers on Lian's chest, feeling for his sternum. "Your hands don't seem steady today, Father."

"Yes. I could never have done this without you, Lex." Lionel admitted it, his mouth curling up in a slight smile. His fingers moved down, stroking Lian's hair away from his forehead. "Close your eyes, Lian, and you will never see your death."

"I'm planning on making this a vivisection. Not a simple dissection." Lex exhaled slowly, and pressed the blade down right beside his finger. It cut in just a little, but dulled as he dragged it, and he swore softly. "Shit. Look at that, Father -- red blood, and a flattened blade. Let me try something else."

The tortured sound escaping Lex's brother came soft and terrible from beneath the tape, his head dropped to the side. Lex could see the pallor crossing Lionel's face, the way he cringed away from the look. He knew that his father would never manage to bring himself to leave, not when he was so close to finding out something more about his adopted son. "Yes. Something else," Lionel agreed thinly.

"Note that at the initial contact point, the blade went in to the expected depth." Lex said thoughtfully, half to Lionel and half to himself as he scratched that onto the note pad. "Perhaps a needle would have similar effectiveness." He headed back for the tray.

The frantic whine beneath Lian's covered mouth was pleading, soft, and he tugged violently, pulling as if he could get loose. He couldn't move, no matter how he tried, and that made Lionel feel more secure in agreeing with Lex. "Yes. Let's try that, Lex."

"Flip on that recorder behind you, hmn?" Lex half-instructed as he picked up a syringe from the tray. A quick depression of the plunger, and then he backed it up ever so slightly, sucking an airbubble into it. And then he was behind Lionel, waiting.

"This one?" his father questioned, leaning over so that his hair spilled onto Lian, taunting the alien with his closeness. "It's close enough to observe everything, I see."

"A pity it's not really plugged in," Lex murmured, drawing his arm up sharply. For a hysterical moment, he felt like a killer in a horror movie, the knife-wielding psycho standing outside of the shower. Then he brought his arm down, and stabbed the syringe into Lionel's hairline, depressing quickly.

"LEX!" It was more a gasp than a roar, Lionel's head rocking back violently enough to nearly snap the needle, instead jerking the syringe itself loose from the thing. It wasn't in time to halt the progression of air and liquid, or to keep him from yelling out with pain and fear.

"You presented me with two monsters, Dad, and told me to choose. I've chosen," Lex murmured shakily as he watched his father slump forwards. "I loved you, but you never returned it. I don't know why we wasted our time..."

"Mmmm," Lian begged prettily, eyes opening to look directly at Lex. He wanted his mouth free. He wanted up from the table. He wanted to comfort Lex because he'd done what they had to do.

"Lex..." A weak sound, the faint tremors in Lionel's voice undeniable. "Lex, how could you...?"

"How could you raise me for the purpose of killing my brother?" Lex half-hissed, half-snarled.

He wanted to know, even though he was snarling that; he wanted to know and he was never going to get an answer. Until then, he'd never quite watched someone die. The shudder of the flesh as it struggled to keep the soul trapped in, the twitching spasms, violent and sharp, of a seizure that made Lionel's body fall to the floor. There was a crack, but Lex kept watching, watched until the final breaths slipped from Lionel's throat, his glazed eyes open and staring upwards in horror. One, Lex noted clinically through his nausea, was bloodshot and dark as pitch.

The syringe itself fell from his hand to the floor, and he moved shakily past his father to pull the tape from Lian's mouth. A dig of his nails under the edge of the sticky stuff, and he yanked it away.

"Fuck," Lian moaned, lifting his head up uncertainly. "Lex. Let me up, let me up. God. Fuck. We'll have to get him upstairs while everyone's sleeping." Get him upstairs and he'd have to clutch Lex to him soon and he still hurt from the stupid fucking _rock_ Lionel's whore had told them about tearfully during the afternoon. Never mind the slice where his skin had split.

"I've killed him." Lex's voice shook as he closed the simple leaden box that he'd put the stone into. "He's dead. My God..."

Once the box had been closed, it was easy enough for Lian to snap the restraints, pulling himself up to move the short distance to Lex even as the slice in his body healed. "Not your fault," he told his brother, hands firm upon his shoulders. "We had no choice." But they should've had a choice. It shouldn't have come to that decision, but was it their fault that it had?

"You're right.... Just..." Lex lifted his hand to lay it over Lian's fingers and then pulled away. He was going to be sick; he'd finally done it, slipped himself free of the shackle of his father's shadow, through the simple act of helping his father shuffle off his mortal coil.

He was going to have nightmares about that one, bloodshot eye for the rest of his fucking life, and it wasn't fair that even after everything that had happened, he wished he hadn't done it.

"Let's finish this off. Then I can fall to pieces."

"You can fall to pieces with me," Lian agreed, moving to the crumpled pile of flesh Lionel made upon the floor. "I'll take him up and then we'll go to your room. My room. It doesn't matter."

"It's all moving so quickly. Do you feel like we're in a whirlwind, Lian?" Lex strode towards Lionel, and threaded fingers in his father's hair to reveal the needle so he could pull it free. "Tossed around with little choice but to protect ourselves from what the wind surrounds us with."

"I think we're lucky the world didn't end today. I think I'm lucky that I haven't died before now. I think..." Lian took a deep breath as he lifted Lionel. Something, a stiff joint, cracked under the weight of Lionel's own limb, and Lex could taste bile in his mouth. "I think that even if I die tomorrow, I'll still have been close to you, and so everything will have been worth it."

"You won't die," Lex assured him, but he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure of much just then, just that his hands were still surprisingly steady, but clammy, nervous to the touch, and there was a drifting thought that he hoped Lionel didn't bleed on his pillowcase when they sprawled him out on his bed in a posture of sleep. There was no point in trying to change his clothes, since that would've only come up in whatever vague autopsy they did in Smallville.

"But it _has_ been worth it."

Even as he followed Lian quietly out of the lab, Lian and his father's corpse, it was worth it. Worth all the self-destruction, the years of fighting against each other if it could come to satisfaction; worth the slow, painful manipulation by their father that pitted them in competition for his approval and attention. What Lionel hadn't realized, Lex considered as they moved away from that room, was that the Game had been lost to him from the very first move. A move that had brought a brother to Lex, not a son to Lionel.

Lionel's game plan had contain one fatal assumption for all his machinations and brilliance; it was never in doubt to him he was the center of the universe to each of his sons, and that their whole lives were focused on seeking his approval, his attention...his love.

Lex could have told him that position was already taken.

He'd never considered that Lex might find love elsewhere and be freed, he had never realized that the king had start toppling with a small caress of an alien hand against a soft cheek all those years ago. He never realized that he had taught both his sons so well in the Luthor way so that they knew that you created your own choices, and that the best way to win was to make sure future games would never be played.

In fact, looking at it, if there were to be a true cause of death on his father's death certificate, it would only be one word -- not the cerebral hemorrhage or the brain aneurysm that would undoubtedly grace the real thing.

Suicide.


End file.
